With senior party leaders like Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and UP in-charge Sanjay Singh languishing in jail over the Delhi excise scam, the Aam Admi Party (AAP) has given a walkover in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh to other parties after performing well in the local bodies poll in 2023.
AAP proved its growing hold in UP by winning 100 seats in the municipal elections but could not carry forward the trust that the public expressed in the party in the state.
However, due to political compulsion or other factors, the party has been seemingly forced to raise the flag of others in the state in the Lok Sabha elections.
The 2014 Lok Sabha polls remind that the Aam Aadmi Party chief, Arvind Kejriwal, had entered the election arena in Varanasi to challenge BJP’s PM contender Narendra Modi. Despite being labelled a ‘parachute’ candidate, Kejriwal secured 2,09,238 votes. However, after Kejriwal’s defeat, the party could not even muster the courage to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
AAP also contested the 2022 assembly elections in UP and fielded candidates on 380 seats. However, this time also it did not get any success although the party managed to make its presence felt at the booth level.
The work done during the assembly polls in UP was reflected in the 2023 civic polls when the party managed to win the election of municipal chairperson in Rampur, Bijnor and Aligarh cities. Besides, eight of its councillors were elected in municipal corporations, 30 councillors in municipalities, and 61 AAP candidates were elected as Nagar Panchayat members.
Though this was a big achievement for the party that tried to strengthen its hold on UP, it could not take that enthusiasm forward.
AAP state spokesperson Mahendra Pratap Singh said here on Friday that party state officials and workers are engaged in campaigning at the district level to make the candidates of the opposition INDI alliance victorious.