Ignoring loyalists, playing victim, apathy to civic woes

The Aam Aadmi Party's crushing defeat in Delhi from 62 seats in 2020 to just 22 in 2025 traces back to three critical missteps: alienating its grassroots workers, persistent blame-shifting, and neglecting basic civic infrastructure.

- Alok KN Mishra

NEW DELHI:

Party insiders paint a picture of growing disconnect between the leadership and ground workers, a claim supported by electoral data. The AAP fielded just 37 of its 62 incumbent MLAs, with fresh candidates contesting in 33 constituencies. The results were telling: while 40.5% of incumbent MLAs retained their seats, only 21.2% of fresh candidates won -- a dramatic decline from 2020 when AAP's strike rate was 93% for incumbents and 86% for new candidates.

Of those that the party dropped, approximately 20 sitting MLAs were replaced with defectors from BJP and Congress -- a move that left campaign workers disillusioned.

"AAP's ticket distribution created discontent which prompted many party leaders to feel that loyal party workers were getting overlooked in favour of new faces, especially those they once called corrupt," said a former MLA, speaking on condition of anonymity. The numbers support this assessment -- even accounting for strategic moves like Manish Sisodia's shift from Patparganj to Jangpura, the wholesale replacement of sitting MLAs appears to have backfired.