The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) faced failure in the recently concluded Gujarat assembly polls. Of the 30-odd-seats that Arvind Kejriwal ventured out to fight in the state elections, it brought him nothing more than a sad defeat.
Most of the party candidates lost their security deposits. They played spoiler in two seats and also secured votes in double digits in some of the seats.
The party which had once routed the BJP in Delhi had an ugly end to its Gujarat campaign. Here, the party was terribly trapped in Gujarat’s politics where Modi’s speech in the local language proved to be a stronger factor in turning the table. The AAP’s candidates couldn’t put up a very strong challenge.
The dismal performance has stopped AAP spreading its sphere beyond Delhi once again.The party at least realised that it should not be living in an illusion. The agony of defeat rendered the party wholly insignificant or worthless in its onward march.
However, the party did succeed in exerting its pressure on at least three seats like Chhota Udaipur, Wankaner and Bapunagar. The party’s performance was unimpressive, but its appeal may not have ended entirely. It possessed some elements of alternative politics. It was also clear from the UP civic poll results.
Their best performance remained in the constituency of Chhota Udaipur where Arjunbhai Versingbhai Rathva polled a total of 4551 votes. Likewise, another candidate Sherasiya Usmanghani Hushen obtained close to 3000 votes in Wankaner.
However, in the high-profile Unjha seat, AAP’s candidate Patel Rameshbhai Ishvarlal got less than 400 seats.
Although the party contested around 30 assembly seats, it focused on merely ten seats. Pardi, Kamrej, Karanj, Gondal, Lathi, Palanpur, Rajkot (east), Unjha, Chhota Udaipur and Dhrangadhra were the ten assembly constituencies
In such critical hours, after being discarded by the voters of Gujarat in the electoral fight, the party has been badly defeated. And certainly, the party leaders, despite the party’s internal survey before the poll did not successfully perform like Arvind Kejriwal did in Delhi.
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