The results of the municipal elections, which were announced on Wednesday, came as a shock for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
After winning a thumping majority in the 2015 Assembly elections — where it bagged 67 out of 70 seats — the party ended a distant second on Wednesday, winning just 48 out of 270 wards.
The AAP was the primary opponent to the ruling BJP, which was fighting 10 years of anti-incumbency.
The AAP had alleged that corruption in the civic bodies, rising cases of dengue and malaria, lack of proper garbage collection, overflowing sewerage, filthy streets, and other sanitation problems that Delhi was facing was all because of the ruling BJP’s incompetence.
Despite this, the BJP increased its tally from 138 seats in 2012 to 181 in 2017.
After the initial trends were out, the AAP was quick to accuse the BJP of tampering with the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
Experts, however, said that the result did not come as a surprise and was in line with the mood of the city.
“The results have come exactly how it was predicted and even if the exit polls was not conducted, if you just walk on the streets and talk to people you would have been able to guess these results,” said Sanjay Kumar, political analyst and professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.
‘AAP disconnected’
Mr. Kumar said that the BJP’s decision to not give tickets to any of the sitting candidates worked for them. He added that the AAP failed to focus on this strategy and did not demand an explanation from the BJP for the step.
“The AAP failed to stress that the BJP had in a way accepted that their councillors failed to perform. That was mainly the reason why they chose to change their candidates,” Mr. Kumar said.
He added that the AAP became disconnected with the ground-level workers. A lack of a strong volunteer base and direct contact with the voters were missing in these elections, Mr. Kumar said.
Many also believe that the AAP’s narrative after coming to power in 2015 was skewed.
Former AAP leader and political analyst Kamal Mitra Chinoy said that the party failed to captured its target voters: the middle and lower-middle class.
Huge mistakes
In fact, recent speeches show that Prime Minister Narendra Modi successfully stole this vote base from the AAP.
“This was almost like a self goal by the AAP. They failed to retain this vote base, which was snatched away from them by the BJP,” said Mr. Chinoy.
He added that the sending away of Rajouri Garden MLA Jarnail Singh to Punjab, and taking on Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with the public exchequer’s money were also huge mistakes made by the AAP.
“There was no conversation about issues in these polls. The promise of house tax was being noticed by the public, but we did not hear Arvind Kejriwal talk about it in the last two weeks before the polls,” Mr. Chinoy said.
Experts said that the party now needs to shed the negative image it has created and take a more constructive approach towards governance.
This is what Mr. Kejriwal did after the 2014 Lok Sabha election loss.
Instead of blaming the Centre and the Lieutenant-Governor, the party must come up with a plan to improve the city for its residents, said experts.
Baby steps
However, many said the party is not out of the race yet.
The party, which made its debut in these municipal polls, has still managed to capture 25.9% vote share.
It is a big step down from its vote share in the 2015 Assembly polls, but is still a considerable portion for a debut.
“The party needs to take baby steps. First consolidate their hold in Delhi and then think of expansion. They still have three years, where they can continue working for the people and build a positive aura around them,” Mr. Kumar said.
Mr. Chinoy said that Mr. Kejriwal is still not a seasoned politician. The party’s existence came from a movement and though they have a lot of positives, they need to up their game to win back people’s trust, he added.
