AAP MLas ‘reconnect’ even as party waits for HC verdict on disqualifications

NEW DELHI: Staring at the possibility of by-elections for 20 seats within six months, after the Election Commission disqualified its MLAs for holding ‘Offices of Profit’, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party has stepped up efforts to retain its strength in the Delhi assembly, where it earlier held a majority with 66 of the 70 seats.

So far, the party leadership has retained a calm demeanour and has pinned its hopes of averting a by-poll on the Delhi High Court, which is set to hear its petition challenging the disqualification on Monday. The HC ordered the EC on January 24 not to take any ‘precipitative’ action on the matter and put a hold on announcing the by-polls until January 29.

However, sources in the party said the leadership has not ruled out facing another election and has urged the disqualified MLAs to ‘reconnect’ with the electorate in the face of the by-polls and its defeat in the municipal elections held in April.


While Kejriwal had called an emergency meeting of all MLAs on January 20 to discuss the next steps, the party is believed to be carrying out an internal survey to assess the performance of the disqualified MLAs in their respective constituencies. Chief Minister Kejriwal is also expected to take a call on his cabinet as Transport Minister and key-aide Kailash Gahlot is among the disqualified MLAs and may have to step down if the High Court ruling is not in its favour. ET takes a look at the challenges that AAP faces.

Poor track record in MCD elections
As per data from the municipal elections held last year, the 20 assembly seats that lie vacant after the disqualification comprise 76 municipal wards and two-thirds of them are represented by BJP councillors.

With the party holding a poor track record despite winning with a brute majority in 2015 and mindful of the fact that AAP’s core electorate resides in Delhi’s slum clusters and 200-odd unauthorised colonies, party MLAs have already entered the poll fray and carried out door-to-door campaigns, addressing small gatherings in their constituencies. From Republic Day gatherings to addressing small panchayats, prominent AAP faces such as disqualified Chandni Chowk MLA Alka Lamba and Burari MLA Sanjiv Jha (a prominent Poorvanchali face in Delhi) have started conducting padyatras in the constituencies. “Since we have been disqualified, we are not authorised to use the MLA funds allotted to us,” Lamba said. “The electorate has to be informed about why this has happened. We are telling our voters about how AAP has been wronged,” she said, adding that she has been highlighting AAP’s initiative of setting up mohalla clinics and adding value to government school education, often lauded in the public realm.

While the Congress is yet to warm up its cardres, arch rival BJP has started galvanising its ranks in the capital. BJP National Secretary Anil Jain has been camping in the city for the past three days, bridging a rift in rival camps within the party and mobilising the party’s cadres in the capital.

Keeping its flock together
Within hours of the President’s nod to the EC’s disqualification bid, Kejriwal had taken to microblogging website Twitter to urge his followers to remain calm and stay on the path of truth. He was quick to point out that the party had won with a massive majority.

The party has been facing the problem of cracks in the ranks since the ouster of Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan and factionalism was visible again in 2016, when former minister Kapil Mishra openly accused Kejriwal of corruption. The party has also been at loggerheads with Kumar Vishwas.

Also, at least three MLAs — Bijwasan MLA Devinder Sehrawat, Timarpur MLA Pankaj Pushkar and former environment minister and Matia Mahal MLA Asim Ahmad Khan — are at loggerheads with the party leadership since 2015 and a possible byelection has spilled open the threat again. Sources in the party said AAP is mindful of the fact that some of the disqualified MLAs are still considered close to Vishwas and Mishra and that may weaken the party’s position in the capital by the 2019 general elections, followed by the assembly elections in 2020.

Aggressive social media campaigns
On Republic Day, AAP launched a donor campaign on social media, describing the poll panel’s decision on the MLAs as “unjust.”

“The campaign has done well over the last two days and we have had nearly 1,000 donors coming forward and donating to the party fund,” said Arvind Jha, who heads AAP’s social media unit. Jha, who took over the party’s social media team in June and is popularly known as Kejriwal’s senior at IIT, has been driving its publicity towards highlighting AAP’s positives in governance, be it in education, health or even saving money on building flyovers.

“People expect AAP to be different and our initiatives in education have found a lot of appreciation on the social media from users even outside Delhi.” A recent parent-teacher meeting at Delhi’s government schools before the board exams, publicised on social media as #PTM_For_Exam_Delhi, topped the trending charts over the weekend.