‘Aam Aadmi turned into Khaas’: In Punjab, why AAP crashed two years after landslide

Setting an ambitious target in the Lok Sabha elections of bagging 13 seats out of 13 in Punjab, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann had called the polls a “reality check” for his two-year-old government.

Going by the poll outcome, the people of the state seem to have shown their disappointment with the AAP, which is getting just three out of 13 parliamentary seats. The AAP’s arch rival in the state, the Congress, is set to bag seven seats.

The AAP had stormed to power by sweeping the state in the 2022 Assembly polls, winning 92 seats out of 117.

Except for Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer (Sangrur), all the other four sitting cabinet ministers who were in the fray failed to win their seats, even though Balbir Singh (Patiala) and Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal (Amritsar) came second in the multi-cornered contests. As per initial estimates, the party’s vote share has fallen to 26% from 42% in 2022.

The poll results are bound to be a dampener for the AAP that was banking heavily on the successful rollout of its free power scheme (300 units a month) besides a host of other welfare programmes – such as the free Aam Aadmi mohalla clinics, revamp of canals, and the establishment of new schools – for its Lok Sabha poll bid in the state.

One of the prime reasons for the party’s failure to put up a good show is perceived anti-incumbency against most of its MLAs, who were said to be “inaccessible”.

A large section of voters expected the 80-plus first-time AAP legislators to be seen in their constituencies. But people across the Malwa, Majha and Doaba regions complained that once elected, most legislators never returned to even thank them, leave alone redress their grievances. “Aam Aadmi has turned into Khaas (entitled)’,