NEW DELHI: Staring at a massive rout in the parliamentary polls, having drawn a blank in all seven seats in Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party has decided to go it alone in the upcoming Assembly elections.
The AAP had earlier gone into the Lok Sabha elections as part of the INDIA bloc, an alliance with the Congress, and there was speculation whether this would continue for the 70-member Assemblies.
"This alliance was forged only for the Lok Sabha elections," said senior AAP leader and minister Gopal Rai on Thursday.
"It was clear from the beginning that the INDIA bloc was announced for the national election. As far as the Vidhan Sabha is concerned, no combination has been drawn up. The Aam Aadmi Party is fighting with full force," Rai declared after a meeting with party MLAs at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence.
Although the AAP has done exceptionally well to win Delhi's Assembly polls by a landslide, it failed to open its account there in the Lok Sabha since 2014, 2019, and 2024.
The pre-poll alliance between AAP and Congress aimed at consolidation of anti-BJP votes. Even though AAP had made the 4:3 seat-sharing deal with its arch-rival, it could not change the electoral fortunes now that the BJP had maintained its stronghold by winning all seven seats.
Now, with Kejriwal in jail and other top leaders dealing with the continuous assaults by the BJP, the future of the party is uncertain. As Delhi gets set for the Assembly elections in January 2025, it is time for the AAP to engage in some introspection and prepare for the campaign.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) submitted the names of the members elected to the 18th Lok Sabha to President Droupadi Murmu.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, along with the Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, met the President and submitted to her a copy of the notification issued by the ECI, in terms of Section 73 of the Representation of People Act, 1951, containing the names of the Members elected to the Lok Sabha following the general elections.
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