AAP gearing up to fight Gujarat-like electoral battle in MP, Haryana

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to fight an all-out Gujarat-like electoral battle in Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, where assembly elections are due in 2023 and 2024 respectively, said people familiar with the matter. While the party will field candidates in all 10 election-bound states in 2023, it has decided to run a campaign similar to the one in Gujarat only in these two states, they said.

The decision was taken after national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak's meetings with state units. "The party has to look at its cadre strength, internal surveys and finances before fighting an election. For a party which is trying to build an organisation, it is not possible to go all out in all elections," a senior AAP functionary told ET on condition of anonymity.

This year, assembly elections are due in Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, Telangana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jammu and Kashmir. The AAP's attempts to build an organisational structure in the four election-bound north-eastern states have not yielded encouraging results. The party has usually done well in states with bipolar polity where BJP is pitted in a direct fight with the Congress. Delhi, Punjab and Gujarat are the most recent examples. In 2023, this opportunity will be available in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.


The party fared well in municipal elections in Madhya Pradesh and has an elected mayor, making the electoral pitch most favourable in the BJP-ruled state. "The toss-up is really between Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Though the proximity to Punjab and Delhi makes Rajasthan a favoured next stop, the organisation is stronger in Madhya Pradesh," said the functionary.

Besides Madhya Pradesh, the party has decided to concentrate on Haryana, where assembly election is due in October 2024. The party will now assign dedicated central teams of AAP functionaries to each assembly segment.