AAP stares at Haryana loss ahead of Delhi elections
The result of the Haryana Assembly has come as a setback to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is poll-bound in Delhi in the coming months, which got nearly 2 per cent vote share in Haryana.
AAP supremo warns against overconfidence
The biggest lesson of the poll results is that one should never be overconfident in the elections. Don’t take any election lightly. Every election is tough, and every seat is difficult. — Arvind Kejriwal, AAP convener
Poor track record
Despite projecting Kejriwal as ‘Haryana ka laal’ (son of Haryana) and offering several promises — including free electricity, better schools and hospitals, and a monthly allowance for women — the AAP’s track record in the state has been consistently poor. It lost all 10 seats it contested in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and failed to win any seats in the 2019 parliamentary and Assembly polls
Despite having governments in Delhi and Punjab, the party has struggled in recent major elections, including the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, where it contested in alliance with the Congress, but suffered defeat. The party contested on 89 seats, but drew a blank.
The AAP’s efforts to form an electoral alliance with the Congress for the Assembly elections had fallen through, forcing it to contest solo. The AAP had asked for 10 seats in the alliance. However, the Congress camp in Haryana was reluctant to share double-digit seats, offering it seven seats.
While the AAP was adamant on 10 seats, this could not materialise. Meanwhile, the talks were undergoing when the party national convener Arvind Kejriwal was in jail. AAP MP Raghav Chadha was holding the mast of the party during the alliance talks.
Senior party leader Anurag Dhanda, who contested from Kalayat in Kaithal district, was placed seventh, trailing against Congress’ Vikas Saharan by 13,419 votes.
Despite projecting Kejriwal as “Haryana ka laal” (son of Haryana) and offering several promises — including free electricity, better schools and hospitals, and a monthly allowance for women — the AAP’s track record in the state has been consistently poor.
It lost all 10 seats it contested in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and failed to win any seats in the 2019 parliamentary and Assembly polls.
Kejriwal had previously claimed during his campaigns that if he had been released from jail earlier, his party could have formed the government in Haryana.
He was released from Tihar Jail in September, after getting bail from the Supreme Court in a CBI excise policy case, after spending five months behind bars.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the AAP, as part of the INDIA bloc, contested the Kurukshetra seat, with Sushil Gupta, the party’s state president, losing to BJP’s Naveen Jindal by around 29,000 votes.
On Tuesday, while addressing party councillors in Delhi, Kejriwal commented on the election results of Haryana. He said, “It is important to stay united and work towards the common goal of serving the people.” He also warned against overconfidence and emphasised that every election was challenging.
“Elections are coming, and we must work hard. Don’t take any election lightly. Every election is tough and every seat is difficult,” he added.
The party, meanwhile, opened its account in Jammu and Kashmir. AAP’s Mehraj Malik won the Doda seat in Jammu by a margin of around 4,500 votes.
The top leadership of the party had campaigned vigourously in Haryana, asking for votes to bring a different politics in the state. However, all plans of the party came crashing today.
