FAILURE OF AAP'S CAMPAIGN REFLECTS VOTER DISCONTENT

AAP fails in an emotional campaign focused on Kejriwal behind bars. Congress gains, but BJP doubles vote share. Future challenges for AAP.

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Despite launching an emotional campaign, appealing to the voters to vote against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal, a vocal opponent of the ruling party being put behind bars, AAP failed to open its account in the national capital, after being in power in the state for about a decade. Since its debut in Lok Sabha elections in 2014, for the third consecutive time, AAP has not been able to win a single seat in Delhi.

This time, AAP allied with its arch-rival Congress party to prevent the division of antiBJP votes, but that made no difference for the saffron party. It swept all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.

In Delhi, the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) secured 54.4% of the total votes polled, down by 2.3% from its 2019 vote share, while the AAP and Congress together polled 43.1%. AAP got 24.2% of votes in the four constituencies, while Congress polled 18.9% in the three constituencies.

AAP claims that its candidates faced a tough fight with the BJP; however, the absence of Kejriwal has hurt the party during its campaign. According to experts, AAP designed its whole campaign around Kejriwal being jailed and focused less on the city's issues.

Moreover, AAP's rise from the anti-corruption movement and its brass leadership, including CM Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, who landed in jail due to corruption charges, turned voters away from the party.

Second, AAP's rise is attributed to its campaign calling Congress' Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi corrupt.