Leaving past drubbings behind, AAP hopes to be third-time lucky in Chhattisgarh

AAP is counting on its organisational overhaul, a stronger political record and resources, and the hope that it can be the third player in a bipolar State, mostly by eating into the Congress’ tribal votebank

When the Aam Aadmi Party contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Chhattisgarh, it lost its deposits in all 11 seats. Four years later, it contested the Assembly elections in 84 out of 90 seats and met the same fate. 

Hoping to be third time lucky, the AAP plans to contest the Assembly elections in the State again later this year. Both its Chief Ministers — the party’s national convenor Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi and Punjab’s Bhagwant Mann — are scheduled to address workers in Raipur on March 5. A formal announcement on fighting the elections is also expected to be made there, according to the AAP’s State president Komal Hupendi, a former government official-turned-politician who has been with the party since 2016.  

Also Read | Contest in Chhattisgarh is bipolar, no place for a third force: T. S. Singh Deo

Mr. Hupendi says that the AAP will be able to make a mark, and even spring a surprise in the form of a “miraculous result” in the Assembly polls. His confidence, he says, hinges on two factors: “our own efforts into organisational overhaul and the changed circumstances in the State”.

Elaborating on the first point, Mr. Hupendi says that while local efforts have been ongoing since 2019, it is only in the past one year that the central leadership of the party, particularly the State in-charge and Delhi MLA Sanjeev Jha, have been taking a keener interest in the matters of Chhattisgarh. The result of this, he claims, is the strengthening of the organisational muscle it will need to pose a challenge in the bipolar politics of the State that is currently ruled by the Congress. 

“The membership count stands at 3-4 lakh today and they are from all parts of the State. We have presidents and secretaries in all the districts, at Lok Sabha constituency level, and presidents at the block level. We have workers in the remotest village,” he says.

On the changed circumstances, Mr. Hupendi — who contested the 2018 Assembly elections and got 9,000 plus votes, the maximum for any AAP candidate — said that back then, the party had been in power in Delhi only for three years. However, it now has a “long governance record and delivery of promises” to show, he claims. Now ruling two States, the party is also seen as more resourceful than it was in the past.