Chandigarh, May 24: In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Bharatiya Janata Party surpassed its performance of the 2014 and won 303 seats. However, BJP’s fierce critic, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), lost its hold in Punjab and Delhi. Led by Arvind Kejriwal, AAP failed to repeat its 2014 performance in Punjab despite its good performance in Assembly polls in the state held in 2017. AAP could bag just one seat in Punjab - Sangrur. Congress-AAP Alliance: There Is No Hope Left for Alliance With INC, Says Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia.

AAP’s Bhagwant Mann was only sitting lawmaker of the party who retained his seat. He defeated Congress’ Kewal Singh Dhillon with a huge margin of over one lakh votes. In rest of the seats, its candidates did not pose any threat to Congress or BJP-SAD candidates. Arvind Kejriwal vs Rahul Gandhi Erupts on Twitter as AAP-Congress Alliance Bid Hits Roadblock.

One of the biggest reasons for AAP’s debacle is infighting. Two AAP MPs - Harinder Singh Khalsa and Dharamvir Gandhi - revolted against the party’s leadership and were expelled for anti-party activities. Mann and Sadhu Singh remained stick with AAP and contested the election.

The other reason is lack of leadership within AAP and Delhi’s leaders are not enough popular in Punjab. Senior party leaders, HS Phoolka, Gurpreet Ghuggi and Suchha Singh Chhotepur also left the AAP. It left with no strong leader except Mann. Last year in November, Leader of Opposition and Punjab AAP MLA Sukhpal Khaira was removed from the post. In revolt, he resigned from AAP and floated a new party – Punjab Ekta Party. He contested 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Bhatinda but failed to leave any mark in the parliamentary polls.

Besides, top AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia have so far failed to connect with masses in Punjab. The AAP’s incompetence can be reflected by the fact that despite emerging as the second largest party after Assembly polls, the role of prime opposition is being played by SAD and BJP. The AAP won 20 seats, while the BJP-SAD alliance had managed to bag  18 seats.

The AAP also failed to win even a single seat in Delhi despite having an absolute majority in the assembly. The party not only lost all the seven seats but five of its candidates including Atishi fared at the third spot.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 24, 2019 07:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).