But in the month of November and December, last year, the party kept them spell-bound winning 28 out of the 70 seats of the Delhi Assembly.In Lok Sabha election 2014 AAP’s performance was not explicable.
Though AAP had fielded 434 candidates across the country.As ill-luck would have it,84 per cent of the even lost their security deposits.In this dismal performance of the candidates,the four winning candidates from Punjab emerged as the stars. Interestingly, they were not even much hyped, but they proved their mettle and drew the attention of all.
However, it left the incumbent in a lurch which was remarkable.
Significantly, the three heavy-weight leaders of Shiromani Akali Dal and Congress fell flat. The two out of four seats’ results were pretty stunning.
In Patiala AAP candidate Dr. Dharmveer Gandhi defeated Ms. Preneet Kaur alias Maharani. She was Foreign Minister for State in UPA government, apart from being wife of Captain Amarinder Singh, former chief minister of Punjab. She was considered almost invincible.
Interestingly, Captain Amarinder defeated senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley from Amritsar seat.
From Sangroor seat comedian turned AAP candidate Bhagwant Mann defeated sitting Congress MP Vijay Indra Singla alongwith SAD heavyweight Sukhbir Singh Dhindsa. Dhindsa was a minister in previous National Democratic Alliance government. Though, Singla had done something for the betterment of his constituency, which couldn’t help him.
In this context, it won’t be fair to overlook the defeat of the senior SAD leader Bibi Paramjeet Kaur Gulshan from Faridkot LS seat. The winner was another AAP candidate Sadhu Singh.
Likewise, from Fatehgarh Sahib seat Harinder Singh Khalsa defeated the Congress candidate Sadhu Singh as well.
Notably, the main leaders of AAP were badly defeated across the country. Former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was defeated by Narendra Modi in Benares, whereas Kumar Vishwas could not make his way out in Amethi. Even party’s veteran Yogendra Yadav had to face the same fate.
Despite facing the heat waves some of the candidates have kept the moral of the party high. No matter in what amount. In such circumstances, the four seats won by AAP keep an important place in the minds of political pundits.
# Ujjwal Ghosh [The author is Sr. Journalist, currently working on his short story book. The views expressed are personal].
