From ‘Sheeshmahal’ to ‘liquor gate’ to river Yamuna poisoning remarks and allegations of corruption against its leaders, constant bickering with the Lieutenant Governor (LG) over governance issues and a spirited campaign conducted by the

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were enough to ensure a rout of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi Assembly polls.

What will be more hurtful for the AAP is the fact that its top guns — Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain — suffered defeats in their constituencies, a major setback for the party that had come to power on the anti-corruption plank.

The party will have a lot to introspect in the coming days as it will be for the first time since its inception that it will be serving as the opposition in the national capital.

The AAP was confident of retaining power in Delhi but corruption allegations against its top leaders and a determined and focussed campaign by the BJP, tagging Kejriwal and other leaders as corrupt, dented its image.

The AAP that had won 67 and 62 seats in the 2015 and 2020 Assembly polls respectively was restricted to only 22 seats this time. The “kattar imandaar” image of the party took a major beating due to the arrest of its senior leaders in various corruption cases. The BJP’s constant attacks on AAP supremo Kejriwal over the issue of renovation of the chief minister’s residence, which it referred to as Sheesh Mahal, also paved the way for the party’s loss in the keenly-contested polls.

In April 2024, just 10 months before the Delhi elections, AAP’s senior leaders including party chief Kejriwal, Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh were in jail. The image of a squeaky-clean party was tarnished, and that would have influenced the Delhi voter. To add to this, several AAP MLAss switched sides and joined the BJP.

The AAP had promised better water, electricity, healthcare and transportation facilities. It had promised to clean up the Yamuna River. While there was some noise around new sewage treatment plants being built and effluent drainage being stopped, the development was slow, and not noticeable.

Floods in Delhi during the rainy season and leaking sewage on the roads are quite noticeable. Most of the capital’s roads were not resurfaced or repaired. Road signage is in disrepair. Garbage is piling up. While some work was done on footpaths in some areas, none of it made any visible difference. Even the ‘mohalla clinics’ and healthcare facilities which did make a significant difference in AAP’s first five-year term, did not improve. The result - voters perceived that the party had not delivered.

The last nail in the coffin for the Aam Aadmi Party was the Union Budget. The cost of living of the middle-class had gone up considerably. The household budget was under pressure. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s move of excluding income up to Rs 12 lakh per annum from income tax put more money in the hands of consumers, which would have influenced the Delhi voter as well.

In 2023, the party launched its “Middle-Class Manifesto”, which called for better tax relief and addressed grievances like rising living costs, pollution, and infrastructure development. Yet, despite these efforts, the manifesto failed to reinvigorate AAP’s middle-class support in the face of competing promises from the BJP. AAP, since its inception in 2012, positioned itself as a political force that emphatically recognised the struggles of the middle class.

Besides, the middle class did not benefit from the AAP’s welfare schemes, which gave the party an image that it works only for the poor. While Kejriwal did try to woo the middle class in the end, it seems it did not bear fruit.

The AAP attracted the middle class’ ire over poor condition of the city’s roads and sewers. Dirty streets, overflowing drains, and irregular water supply further angered the voters.

The AAP’s tussle with successive Lieutenant Governors (LGs) over governance issues also harmed its prospects. Right from the cleaning of drains to stopping schemes like the doorstep delivery of services, the AAP government would always lay the blame on the LG or the BJP-led Centre for creating obstacles in governance.

The arrests of Kejriwal, Sisodia and Jain brought governance to a standstill in the capital. Kejriwal did not resign from the chief minister’s post after he was arrested by the ED in March last year, with the party saying that he did not cower before the Centre’s witch hunt.

After being released from prison on bail, Kejriwal stepped down as the chief minister, saying he will return to the post only if people give him a “certificate of honesty”. The Delhi government was constantly at loggerheads with the Centre-appointed LGs, accusing them of holding up projects.