Poor show indicates AAP failed to connect with voters

Ruchika M Khanna
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 24

The poor performance of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the four state bypoll today clearly signals the disconnect of the party with the people. Not only was the party unable to retain its Dakha seat, which it conceded to the SAD, it’s electoral performance in the other segments was also dismal.

In Phagwara, Mukerian and Dakha, the party got less than 3,000 votes, marking the worst electoral performance of the party ever since it made an impressive debut on Punjab’s political spectrum in 2014.

The total votes polled in its favour are less than 20,000. The AAP vote share in the general elections was 7.4% as against 23.7% in 2017 Assembly polls. At its peak in 2014 general elections, AAP’s vote share was 24.4 per cent. This is quite a telling tale on the status of a party, which prides in being the “principle opposition party” of Punjab.

Though party leaders admit (in private) that these by-elections were being fought only to make their presence felt, they need a complete rejuvenation of their waning cadres.

Today’s results are also a definite referendum on the performance of state AAP president Bhagwant Mann. It was he who wanted complete autonomy in the Punjab affairs and was granted complete freedom to chose candidates, campaign and address issues in these elections. If credit for a win were to be his, the responsibility of a drubbing too is his. Perhaps it is also time for the party to become open to sharing of responsibilities/power, than restricting these in one hand.

Harpal Singh Cheema, leader of Opposition, told The Tribune that while they accept the verdict of the people, they would be introspecting on where the party went wrong. “We did relatively better in Jalalabad where we got almost 11,000 votes. But in days to come we will be re-strategising our political line and increase our mass voter connect. One reason why people of Dakha have rejected us is that they felt betrayed by our former MLA HS Phoolka. Interestingly, even the BJP has been rejected by Punjab’s voters,” he said.

The dismal results for AAP are an indication of Punjab’s political scene once again going bilinear.