The results of the MCD elections that were declared on Wednesday turned out to be a disappointment for the AAP after it managed to win only 46 of 270 seats, coming a distant second to the winner BJP which bagged 184 seats.
This electoral failure in their so called bastion, compounded by the recent disappointments in the assembly elections has started to affect the party in the wrong ways. Recent incidents of resignations by party workers and various leaders speaking frankly is resulting in the party feeling the tremors of the MCD elections.
Today AAP leader Bhagwant Mann openly came out to state that instead of finding faults with the EVMs, it was time to start finding faults within the party. He also asserted that no doubts were raised against the EVMs when he became a MP by a huge margin in 2014 and when AAP won 67 out of 70 seats in Delhi assembly elections.
Mann is not alone, AAP Minister Kapil Mishra too acknowledged that it was not proper only to blame EVMs for the loss and that the party should also introspect as to why it had to see such a day. An anonymous AAP MLA from Central Delhi too was in agreement with Mishra’s view.
These statements come after senior members of the party have taken pains to blame the EVMs for the loss. Deputy CM Sisodia had claimed that BJP’s victory in the MCD elections was due to EVM tampering. This view has been echoed by party leader Ashutosh.
Party leaders disagreeing with the party’s explanation for its loss isn’t the end of AAP’s problems. The party now also seems to be getting embroiled in some kind of a Resignation-gate.
On Wednesday party leader Alka Lamba had offered to resign following the party’s loss in the MCD polls. Initially it was thought to be a token gesture which all party leaders make after electoral setbacks. But the resignation episode has grown since then.
Now Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh has resigned as the party’s in-charge in Punjab. Along with him the party’s Punjab co-observer Durgesh Pathak has also resigned. Apart from them, AAP’s Delhi unit convener Dilip Pandey and AAP’s Delhi in-charge Ashish Talwar have resigned from their posts.
All this upheaval seems to have forced Kejriwal to take an emergency stock of the situation by calling a meeting of his legislators. It remains to be seen how the party endures the crisis on its hand especially when there might be further bad news next month when the Election Commission is set to decide on a complaint which seeks the disqualification of 21 AAP MLAs for allegedly holding an office of profit.