AAP fails to make mark in Haryana assembly polls, draws a blank

PTI, Oct 8, 2024, 6:53 PM IST

Chandigarh: The Haryana Assembly poll outcome has come as a blow to the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which hoped to make a mark in the elections.

The party drew a blank so far with its senior vice president of the state unit Anurag Dhanda is among those set to suffer a big defeat. Dhanda, who contested from the Kalayat seat in the Kaithal district, was at the seventh position with Congress’ Vikas Saharan leading by a margin of 13,419 votes.

No AAP nominee was in the contest in any of the 90 assembly seats, as per the ECI data.

AAP, which has governments in Delhi and Punjab, did not have any electoral success in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year.

AAP contested the assembly polls solo after talks with the Congress for stitching an alliance could not fructify.

During his poll campaigns, party national convener Arvind Kejriwal said that had he been released from jail three to four months back, his party would have formed its government in the state after the polls.

“Whatever government is formed in Haryana, it will be formed with the support of the Aam Aadmi Party,” he claimed.

Kejriwal was released from Tihar jail on September 13 after he was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the CBI case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. He remained in jail for five months.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Kejriwal-led outfit, which was part of the INDIA bloc, contested in alliance with the Congress from the Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency. But its nomine Sushil Gupta, the party’s state unit president and its ‘best bet’, lost to BJP’s Naveen Jindal by around 29,000 votes.

In Haryana where caste equations play a key role in the electoral success of a political party, AAP asked people to give it a chance in the assembly polls as they have elected all major political parties one by one.

The party projected Kejriwal as ‘Haryana ka laal’ (son of Haryana) and sought votes in his name.

The party had announced several “guarantees”, including free and round-the-clock electricity for domestic consumers, transformation of government schools and hospitals, free and good education, setting up of ‘mohalla’ clinics, and Rs 1,000 to women every month.

Though AAP was trying its luck in the 2024 assembly polls, its past poll record shows its dismal performance in Haryana.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, it had unsuccessfully contested all the 10 parliamentary seats in the state.

In the 2019 parliamentary polls, AAP joined hands with the Jannayak Janta Party and fielded candidates from three seats — Faridabad, Karnal and Ambala — and they too lost.

In 2019 assembly polls, AAP contested 46 assembly seats and failed to register victory.