Neither sympathy nor vote, AAP fails to open its account | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: AAP sprang a surprise winning the Doda assembly seat in J&K but failed to open its account in Haryana despite contesting 88 seats, a major setback in Arvind Kejriwal’s home state. AAP bargained hard in seat-sharing talks with Congress in Haryana but its candidates lost deposit in 87 seats months before Delhi assembly polls. Its vote share was 1.8%. In Doda, Mehraj Malik defeated BJP’s Gajay Singh Rana by 4,538 votes.The party got 0.5% vote share. & 19
Tuesday’s poll outcome was a significant loss for AAP in Haryana, as it not only failed to open its account, but also ended up with a vote share of less than 2%. This was despite party supremo Arvind Kejriwal, who hails from Bhiwani’s Siwani, leading over a dozen roadshows and outreach events on his home turf after being released on bail and seeking votes for ‘Haryana ka Lal’.
Kejriwal’s call to vote for him if he was honest and AAP’s emotive campaign failed to stir voters. The party carried out a high-voltage campaign, with all its netas — from Manish Sisodia to MPs Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, along with Kejriwal — hitting the trail to intensify their attacks on BJP. They focused on issues ranging from corruption and misuse of agencies to unemployment, but their efforts failed to resonate with voters.
Also AAP’s slew of “guarantees” like free electricity and healthcare, quality education, along with mohalla clinics and solutions to address unemployment didn’t have impact on people’s mindset. Except AAP candidate Adarsh Singh who ended up third with 43,813 votes in Jagadhri, all its 87 candidates are set to forfeit their security deposit.
After alliance talks with Congress failed, AAP decided to contest 88 out of 90 seats in Haryana exuding confidence that it will be “key player”. In his campaigns, Kejriwal also asserted that no party can form govt in Haryana without AAP’s support. But the results tell another story. AAP got 2.48 lakh (1.8%). Its vote share was 0.5% in 2019 when it had contested 46 seats.
Given that Congress snubbed AAP when it sought to ally with it in Haryana after numerous rounds of talks on seat-sharing, the result day saw AAP despite its poor performance send out a strong message to Congress with Kejriwal stating that the results show that no one should be over-confident. Without naming anyone, Kejriwal said, “Delhi assembly elections are around the corner. The first thing to keep in mind is to not take any election lightly. Today’s election results show that one should never be overconfident.”