AAP Secures 3 Seats in Punjab but Loses Delhi Seats to BJP

 

Its presence in the Lok Sabha grew from one seat in both 2019 and 2014 to three seats.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) competed in 22 constituencies across Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, and Assam. While it secured three seats in Punjab, marking an increase in its parliamentary representation from the single seat it won in the 2014 and 2019 elections, the party did not secure any seats in Delhi. Despite its success at the state level, AAP was unable to replicate this achievement in the national elections.AAP's national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister expressed confidence that the party would see a different outcome this time, given that this was their inaugural election as a 'national party'.

Eager to emphasize its "politics of work," the INDIA bloc member negotiated firmly with the Congress, securing not only a 4-3 seat-sharing alliance in the national capital but also the Bharuch seat in Gujarat, where Faisal Patel, son of the late Congress stalwart Ahmed Patel, was denied a ticket from his father's former constituency.

In Punjab and Assam, AAP and the Congress contested separately, not as part of the INDIA bloc. AAP remained optimistic about the bloc's victory on June 4. Mr. Kejriwal even unveiled "Kejriwal's 10 guarantees," promising their implementation at the national level if the alliance came to power.

AAP emerged as a focal point for the INDIA bloc after Mr. Kejriwal's arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case. This incident heightened the campaign's narrative, asserting that democracy and the Constitution were at risk if the BJP returned to power.

Mr. Kejriwal, emerging as a prominent campaigner not just for AAP but also for the INDIA bloc, delivered direct attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, these efforts did not alter his party's electoral fortunes on the national stage.

Senior AAP leader Gopal Rai, reflecting on the outcome, expressed satisfaction with the party's increased representation in Parliament through its victories in Punjab. He noted that despite the Delhi results, AAP succeeded in narrowing the BJP's margin of victory. "The BJP hoped to dismantle AAP by imprisoning its senior leadership. People questioned how we would conduct a campaign without our leaders. Yet, we put up a strong fight against the BJP and saw an uptick in our vote share," Rai remarked.

In Assam, where it ran independently in two constituencies, Dibrugarh and Sonitpur, AAP secured third place. In Gujarat, as part of the INDIA bloc, it secured second place in the Bharuch and Bhavnagar seats it contested. Contesting alongside the INDIA bloc in Haryana's Kurukshetra, AAP closely contested with BJP's Naveen Jindal, ultimately securing second place. Although it failed to win any seats in Delhi, AAP clinched victories in Sangrur, Hoshiarpur, and Anandpur Sahib out of the 13 seats it contested in Punjab.