AAP's Delhi Debacle: What Happened To Top Ministers In The Delhi Assembly Elections?
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) suffered a crushing defeat in the Delhi Assembly Elections today with top leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia losing their seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made a significant comeback, surpassing the majority mark with 48 seats while the AAP trailed behind with 22 seats.
Kejriwal, the former Chief Minister of Delhi, lost to BJP’s Parvesh Verma by 1,200 votes in the New Delhi constituency. Similarly, Manish Sisodia, the former Deputy Chief Minister, was defeated by BJP’s Tarvinder Singh Marwah in the Patparganj constituency by a narrow margin of 600 votes.
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Other prominent AAP leaders, including Saurabh Bharadwaj, also lost their seats. Bharadwaj was defeated by BJP’s Shikha Rai in the Greater Kailash constituency by 3,139 votes.
Avadh Ojha, a popular IAS exam tutor and AAP candidate, trailed behind in Patparganj. AAP’s Somnath Bharti, a candidate from Malviya Nagar, also lost.
However, in a silver lining for the AAP, current Delhi Chief Minister Atishi secured a victory in the Kalkaji constituency, defeating BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri.
What happened to AAP that made it confront such a massive failure this time?
The corruption allegations against Kejriwal’s administration gained momentum when multiple AAP ministers were accused of misconduct. In 2017, then-Minister Kapil Mishra claimed he witnessed Kejriwal accepting a bribe of Rs 2 crore from another minister, Satyendar Jain.
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The arrests of senior AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain led to widespread criticism from opposition parties, raising questions about Kejriwal’s commitment to clean governance. Later, Kejriwal was imprisoned for five months.
The major issue stemming from this was the failure of the main leader. Additionally, the recent budget appears to have brought the middle class back to support the BJP, leading many to regain faith in the BJP government.
When it comes to AAP’s Manish Sisodia, Angpura has been a stronghold for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) since 2013. In the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, AAP dominated, winning 62 out of the 70 seats in the capital.
However, in the last Assembly election, despite AAP’s strong performance, Manish Sisodia, along with some other ministers, lost their seats, which was a significant setback for the party.
On a positive note, Atishi, another AAP leader and the current Chief Minister, successfully won her seat, providing some relief to the party.
Gopal Rai, Mukesh Ahlawat, and Imran Hussain, who serve as ministers in the Delhi government have successfully retained their constituencies. Rai contested from Babarpur, Ahlawat from Sultanpur Majra, and Hussain from Ballimaran.
Imran Hussain achieved a significant victory with a substantial margin of 29,823 votes. Gopal Rai also secured his win by defeating his opponent with a lead of 18,994 votes. Likewise, Mukesh Ahlawat triumphed with a margin of 17,126 votes.
However, there is still uncertainty about why some voters were discouraged from supporting AAP, despite its past successes in governance that it points fingures to the controversies surrounding its top leaders and the strong campaign led by the BJP.
