Delhi Assembly Election: Is AAP Waging A Battle For Its Political Survival

AAP emerged from nowhere to rule Delhi for 12 years but the present assembly election has turned tricky posing a daunting challenge to Arvind Kejriwal.

New Delhi: Just like how all focus was on Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the attention of the entire country is now on AP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi Assembly Election 2025.

Delhi is not a full state even now and has just 70 assembly segments but still all eyes are on the present election. The Aam Aadmi Party, which began as a movement, eventually achieved the status of a political party and then national party within a decade. In the current Delhi battle, AAP is locked in a full-scale election battle with the ruling BJP at the centre.

In 2011, when AAP began as a movement, there were many intellectuals like Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav, Santosh Hegde and Kumar Vishwas. Arvind Kejriwal was just one of them. He formed India Against Corruption and made Maharashtra's social worker Anna Hazare the main face of it.

Senior journalist Santosh Kumar, who closely observed India Against Corruption, told ETV Bharat after the Anna movement ended, Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and other leaders associated with it decided to form a party named Aam Aadmi Party on 2 October 2012 to bring about a system change. "And, Aam Aadmi Party came into existence on 26 November 2012. The party decided to contest the Delhi Assembly elections. Arvind Kejriwal was formally made the convener of this party,'' said Santosh Kumar.

2013 Delhi Polls:The AAP came to power for the first time in Delhi after the 2013 election with the support of eight Congress MLAs. Arvind Kejriwal became the Chief Minister, but this government could last only for 49 days. He said that as per the election promise made to the people, the Aam Aadmi Party government wanted to bring the Jan Lokpal Bill in Delhi. But Congress did not support it and the situation became such that Chief Minister Kejriwal had to resign. Then President's rule was imposed in Delhi. After that, assembly elections were held in 2015. The Aam Aadmi Party won 67 out of all 70 seats. This was the first time in the history of the country that a political party got such a massive majority. Congress was wiped out and BJP was reduced to just three seats.

In the 2015 elections, the AAP government was formed in Delhi for the first time with a full majority. At that time, the Aam Aadmi Party had made promises to the people of Delhi, including waiver of electricity bills, reduce water bills and other promises, and gradually started fulfilling them. The result was that the Aam Aadmi Party did not face any problem in running the government for 5 years. Not only this, the confident Aam Aadmi Party decided to contest the assembly elections in other states of the country. Although the results there were not as expected. But the party kept expanding. Meanwhile, in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Aam Aadmi Party succeeded in winning 4 seats.

In the 2020 assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party got a huge majority of 62 out of 70 seats. After that, the Aam Aadmi Party fought the elections in Punjab vigorously and there too the party succeeded in forming the government with an absolute majority. The party also opened its account in Gujarat. The party's MLAs were also elected in Goa, hence the stature of the Aam Aadmi Party kept on increasing.

Now the big challenge before AAP: This time the assembly election is going to be the biggest challenge for the Aam Aadmi Party. Even if the party wins the election in Delhi, who will become the Chief Minister? However, in this regard Arvind Kejriwal has said many times that if the public elects him, he will become the Chief Minister again. But the question is that under the conditions on which he has got bail in the alleged liquor scam, he cannot go to his office as the Chief Minister and cannot sign files. Will these legal hurdles not prevent him from becoming the Chief Minister again? Political analysts believe so.

"The biggest challenge for the Aam Aadmi Party in this election is that if for some reason it is unable to get the majority, then it may be weakened by the damage already caused to its image due to the alleged liquor scam or other scams during its reign in Delhi." - Munish Raizada, former colleague of Kejriwal in India Against Corruption.

The Aam Aadmi Party has suffered a dent in its image of being a different party in the last few years. The BJP, Congress and other opposition parties have been trying to harm AAP at every opportunity. Still, the way the Aam Aadmi Party has emerged as a national party in the last decade has left everyone in awe. But now, if the party loses the Delhi Assembly elections, then questions will arise on its survival in today's highly competitive political landscape.

After being in power for 12 years, this time the Aam Aadmi Party is expected to face some anti-incumbency which may reduce its vote share and also its number of seats in the assembly. In the present situation, even if the party comes close to a majority, it will not help AAP politically considering the hostile stance taken by the other parties. That is why from Kejriwal to all leaders down the line, they are striving to their fullest potential in the election campaign.

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