Will the AAP’s gamble of entering the poll fray in six States pay off, or will the voters reject it?

Poised to take a leap of faith, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is preparing to increase its footprint in electoral politics across at least six States — Uttar Pradesh (UP), Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. The ambitious plan was divulged recently at the party’s ninth national council meeting by national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Having experienced a few false starts, dissension, bickering and even public ridicule to some extent, the party has come a long way and is hoping to keep the trajectory of its electoral fortunes high. As early as in December, Kejriwal had let it be known that the party would contest the UP Assembly elections. Even for the upcoming gram panchayat elections, the party fielded 40 candidates in Moradabad alone to contest from 39 wards. This came after the AAP emerged victorious on 70 seats across 13 districts in the Maharashtra gram panchayat polls earlier this month. Set up in 2012 and now into its third term in the Capital, the party has made small gains in the Goa and Kashmir local elections as AAP candidate Hanzel Fernandes won a panchayat seat in Goa. Its leader Mehraj Malik won the District Development Council polls from the Kahara constituency in Doda though he contested as an Independent.

The AAP has already started the process of handing out State-wise responsibilities to its senior leaders. Rajendra Nagar Assembly constituency MLA and spokesperson Raghav Chadha has been given the charge of Punjab, Kalkaji legislator Atishi will take care of the party’s expansion in Gujarat and Sangam Vihar MLA Dinesh Mohaniya is in charge of Uttarakhand. All these States are scheduled to go to elections in 2022. Kejriwal claims that people were supporting the party because they had realised that both the BJP and the Congress had ruled for years but done nothing worthwhile to change the lives of the common man; “They keep talking about the past while we are the only party with a vision for the 21st and 22nd century,” he pointed out. Of course, the party’s Government has done some good work in the past six years, especially in the health and education sectors, but it remains to be established conclusively that the nation’s voters have changed their viewpoint towards the party and no longer consider it Delhi-centric.