Though written off by many in Gujarat, AAP managed to breach Modi-Shah’s fortress to some extent. With most of the candidates fielded by AAP being first timers, the party still managed to bag five seats including two held previously by BJP and two by Congress, writes Aayush Goel
Zero in Himachal Pradesh and single digit in Gujarat but still Aam Aadmi Party has a spring in its stride and celebration in ranks. The decade old party, known for its ‘health and education’ promises, has finally arrived and transformed into a national party. The party is celebrating the 12.9-per cent vote share with six per cent vote share in at least four states: Delhi, Punjab, Goa and now Gujarat. In several of the 34 seats in Gujarat where it came second, it polled over 20 per cent of the vote.Victory in Gujarat made BJP the only party other than the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to have won seven straight assembly elections. The CPI (M), which ruled West Bengal for 34 years from 1977 to 2011, had also won seven straight elections.
Meanwhile, an elated party supremo and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said in a video message: “Gujarat’s people have given us the national status that only a few parties have. It’s an amazing achievement for a small, young party.” With Punjab and Delhi under its wings and newly achieved status of national party AAP is now focussed on mission 2024. Senior party leader and MP Sanjay Singh says they have moved to the next battle of Modi versus Arvind Kejriwal in 2024. “Ten years and we went on from being a movement to the fastest growing political party to national party in 10 years. Now we are up for our ultimate role to take on the biggest political party in 2024. It will be Modi versus Kejriwal,” said Singh.
The Gujarat feat
While the party was written off by many with Gujarat polls being called Congress-BJP fight, AAP managed to breach Modi-Shah’s fort in Gujarat. Majority of candidates fielded by AAP on 180 seats were first timers and the party still managed a win on five seats including two held previously by BJP candidates and two by Congress. Though over 120-odd AAP candidates lost their deposits for not getting even one-sixth of the total votes polled and top leaders like chief ministerial face Isudan Gadhvi, state unit president Gopal Italia, former Patidar agitation leaders Alpesh Kathiria, Manoj Sorathiya, Dharmik Malaviya were vanquished but it got a toe hold in Gujrat. It won five seats, four in Saurashtra and one tribal seat in South Gujarat. More significantly, by pocketing a popular vote of 12%, AAP gained the national party status. Amongst the winners, AAP’s Bhupendra Bhayani defeated Harshad Kumar Ribadiya who had won from Congress in 2017 and had switched to BJP this year from Visavadar. Bhayani got 45 percent of the vote share in the seat which was former CM Keshubhai Patel’s stronghold. Similarly, in Jamjodhpur, AAP’s Hemantbhai Ahir defeated Congress Candidate with 47 per cent of vote share. AAP’s Sudhir Vaghani and Umesh Makwana are star winners who secured BJP-held seats of Gariadhar and Botad, respectively. AAP’s Chaitar Vasava made a mark in Tribal Gujarat winning the reserved ST seat of Dediapada with 55 per cent of the vote share. AAP emerged second in total 34 seats and managed to get an average of 20% of the votes. “We are just a decade old party that talks of common man issues and promises development. We may have not replicated Delhi or Punjab here but made a dent in Modi-Shah winning streak and Gujarat elections has transformed the party, our candidates got major vote share even where they lost. This highlights that we have made an entry and will soon win,” says party state president Gopal Italia.
