Broom and bust

Beset by legal woes, political setbacks and a leadership vacuum, the AAP faces a credibility crisis

- MOHIT SHARMA

When newcomer Arvind Kejriwal defeated threetime chief minister Sheila Dikshit in her constituency of New Delhi in 2013, jubilant supporters took to the streets, hailing the moment when a common man got an opportunity to master electoral politics. Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party soon became the preeminent force in Delhi politics. In less than a decade, it extended its sway to one more state by winning the Punjab assembly elections in 2022, becoming the only regional party to be in power in two states. Growing footprint and ambitions in states like Goa, Assam, Haryana and Gujarat further catapulted the AAP into the non-BJP, non-Congress political space and raised the profile of its talismanic leader.

However, the arrest of Kejriwal by the CBI could not have come at a worse time for the party. After recording a below average performance in the Lok Sabha polls, the AAP was banking on the release of their leader from jail in the money laundering case of the Enforcement Directorate to go back to the drawing board. Despite dominating the Delhi assembly for a decade, the party failed to open its account in the capital, losing all seven Parliament seats to the BJP, third time in a row. The massive loss has dented the credibility of the AAP as a national player and of Kejriwal as a national leader.

The Punjab story, too, did not go as expected, as the AAP could win only three seats against the Congress’s seven. While the party’s vote share increased to 26 per cent, it had 42 per cent vote share and 92 seats in the 2022 assembly polls, which allowed it to form the government. The AAP’s candidates in Assam, Haryana and Gujarat failed to open their account.