Election results 2014: Gloom for AAP in Delhi, Punjab comes as a silver lining

Miracles don't happen every time. The Aam Aadmi Party worked one in Delhi last November. Emboldened by that it fought 423 seats across the country in this Lok Sabha election, but it turned out to be a different story.

On its home turf, Delhi, it has drawn a blank, even though it garnered 33% of the popular vote — higher than last November. But it now faces a resurgent BJP in the upcoming Delhi election which has got over 46% votes.

The silver lining in an otherwise gathering of dark clouds for AAP has been Punjab where it exploited a strong anti-incumbency sentiment against the Akali government and won four seats.

Is that good enough? Or has this election exposed the limitations of the so-called alternative politics that AAP claims to represent?

Most of its top leaders — Arvind Kejriwal, Yogendra Yadav, Kumar Vishwas, Shazia Ilmi — have been swept away. Kejriwal — who had challenged BJP leader Narendra Modi in Varanasi—lost by a margin of over 3.6 lakh votes.

Other beaten leaders were Rajmohan Gandhi and Medha Patkar. Shazia Ilmi and Kumar Vishwas have forfeited their security deposit.

Kejriwal described the mandate as a "good start". "This was our first (Lok Sabha) election. We are surprised over the results in Punjab and shocked over the outcome in Delhi. We could have done better in the national capital.''

A combination of factors appeared to have worked against the party. Leaders admitted that the manner in which they quit Delhi government after 49 days was hasty and earned them the dubious tag of "quitters".

Kejriwal's decision to contest against Modi appears to have backfired. If the intention was to pin down Modi and restrict him to Varanasi, the exact opposite happened. Modi hardly came there, while Kejriwal was stuck to Varanasi.

Resources in terms of volunteers, campaign by senior leaders and funds were cornered by Kejriwal at the expense of other candidates who might have benefitted from party support. It is widely believed that if Kejriwal had contested from Delhi, the party could have gained more votes.
So was there a Modi wave? "Today's result shows that people reposed their trust and aspirations in Modi as a person and BJP in general,'' Yadav said. While admitting that the decision to resign from the Delhi government was a mistake, Yadav said, "We may have erred in our decision, but we did not compromise on our honesty.''

Incidentally, as in Delhi assembly, AAP appears to have cut into the BSP vote in Punjab reducing the party's vote share from 5.75% in 2009 to 1.9%. Nationally, AAP has garnered 2.1% votes, falling short of its aim to be recognized as a national party which would have required at least 6% votes in four or more states.

However, it has brought focus on corruption and brought into politics people who had so far dismissed it as "dirty". For now, it will have to live with that consolation.