What future appears like for Arvind Kejriwal and AAP after Delhi drubbing

The Aam Aadmi Occasion (AAP) has suffered a serious jolt in Delhi as voters rejected it after a decade in energy. The crushing defeat grew to become extra bitter with the drubbing of the get together’s high leaders together with AAP chief and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia.

For the AAP, the Delhi loss may have a ripple impact, with Kejriwal’s political future on the road. All eyes are additionally on Punjab, the one state the place the AAP is now in energy. However why?

Let’s have a look.

What Delhi loss means for Arvind Kejriwal

The AAP has been diminished to only 22 out of 70 seats in Delhi from 62 in 2020. However its vote share of 43.57 per cent is simply 1.99 per cent behind the Bharatiya Janata Occasion’s (BJP).

Not solely has the AAP misplaced Delhi to the saffron get together, however its chief Kejriwal additionally didn’t retain his seat. The AAP supremo was defeated by the BJP’s
Parvesh Verma by a margin of 4,089 votes.

Sisodia, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Satyendar Jain and Somnath Bharti had been among the many different AAP bigwigs trounced by the BJP.

For Kejriwal, the Delhi Meeting election was not only a political however a private battle. That is the primary time Kejriwal has misplaced the elections from New Delhi after his first win in opposition to the then Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit of the Congress in 2013.

The AAP chief, whose get together rose to energy in Delhi for the primary time in 2013 on an anti-corruption plank, was going through corruption prices. Kejriwal spent six months in jail final 12 months in reference to an alleged excise coverage rip-off.

He has been out on bail since September 2024. In January this 12 months, the Union House Ministry granted sanction to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to prosecute Kejriwal below the anti-money laundering legislation within the Delhi liquor coverage case. The CBI can also be probing the case.

In line with Supreme Court docket lawyer Nipun Saxena, the minimal jail time period within the cash laundering case is seven years if convicted, reported CNBC TV18. If Kejriwal had received from the New Delhi seat and later discovered responsible within the case, he would have been disqualified from holding workplace below the Illustration of the Folks Act, 1951.

Now, he can be handled as a standard citizen and face the authorized course of. An FIR was lodged in opposition to the AAP chief in Kurukshetra just lately over his remarks on the alleged “poisoning” of the Yamuna river water by the Haryana authorities.

A victory for Kejriwal would have reaffirmed his recognition and proven Delhi’s voters had sympathy for him amid his authorized troubles.

The AAP’s rout and Kejriwal’s defeat have additionally harm the AAP chief’s private model. Kejriwal, who harped on the get together’s “clear politics”, was mired by corruption allegations and the “Sheesh Mahal” controversy.

The BJP tried to nook the AAP over the pricey renovation of the Chief Minister’s residence when Kejriwal was in workplace, referring to it as Sheesh Mahal.

For Kejriwal, who crafted his picture as a political chief rejecting opulence, this controversy was apparently perceived by the Delhi voters as a “image of hypocrisy”, as per a Moneycontrol report.

Earlier than resigning because the Delhi CM following his bail final September, Kejriwal had mentioned he wouldn’t return to the CM’s chair till he will get the folks’s mandate as a “certificates of (his) honesty”, terming it as his “agnipariksha”.

The AAP chief has misplaced this trial by fireplace. The win in Delhi would have been sweeter because the AAP would have returned to energy within the nationwide capital for a fourth straight time period. With this, Kejriwal would have turn into the one opposition chief post-2014 to defeat the BJP 3 times in a row.

Conceding defeat, Kejriwal has vowed to play the function of a constructive opposition. “We did plenty of work within the final decade… We improved, we did plenty of work on bettering water availability and the infrastructure… However we won’t surrender… We won’t simply be a constructive opposition however may also do social work, and assist folks in our private capability. We didn’t come into politics for energy, we got here to serve the folks,” he mentioned in his first response after the Delhi election outcomes.

pic.twitter.com/X2CKGVpE9G

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 8, 2025

Why highlight is on Punjab

The
AAP’s loss has put the highlight on Punjab. Kejriwal’s get together would now should concentrate on maintaining its flock collectively.

AAP leaders admit the Delhi defeat may have repercussions in Punjab, the place the get together’s authorities is led by CM Bhagwant Mann.

“The AAP has comparable big-ticket initiatives in each Delhi and Punjab, similar to free energy and mohalla clinics. Kejriwal’s recognition in Delhi had created an identical impact in Punjab. It was after the AAP’s victories in Delhi that Punjab’s voters voted for AAP within the 2022 Meeting elections. How we do in Delhi definitely has an influence in Punjab,” an AAP chief in Punjab informed Indian Categorical.

Leaders in Punjab consider Kejriwal would now concentrate on the state, which is able to go to polls in two years. There are considerations that this might create a discord between him and Mann.

The Punjab Congress has sensed a chance in AAP’s Delhi rout, with speculations rising about an inside revolt in Kejriwal’s get together and a risk of midterm elections.

Senior Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa even claimed to Indian Categorical that Kejriwal would now head to Punjab “to turn into CM of the state”, predicting an influence battle between the AAP chief and CM Mann. “There could also be widespread defections amongst AAP MLAs in Punjab,” Bajwa asserted.

The
BJP additionally believes the AAP’s drubbing in Delhi will have an effect in Punjab and plans to extend its outreach to voters.

AAP sources informed the newspaper that the senior management would focus extra on Punjab, in addition to different states – with the get together’s nationwide ambitions nonetheless on observe. “All is just not misplaced. We nonetheless are a nationwide get together and are operating a authorities in Punjab with a greater than comfy majority. The loss in Delhi is a chance to broaden into different states and consolidate our positions there,” a senior chief informed Indian Categorical.

With inputs from companies