More middle-class voters chose BJP: AAP leader 

Middle-class shift to BJP led to AAP's loss in Delhi, focusing on Punjab Assembly election now.

A section of middle-class voters, who in the past have voted for the BJP in the Lok Sabha election and for the AAP in the Assembly election, voting for the BJP this time, was one of the main reasons for the AAP’s loss, a senior AAP leader told The Hindu.

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The party’s focus will now be on the Punjab Assembly election and leaders from Delhi will be extensively part of it as they have more time at hand now. “There will be restructuring in the Delhi unit also to accommodate many senior leaders and many of them will also be focusing more on Punjab. In the past also, as soon as the Delhi election was over we shifted our focus to Punjab and we will be doing the same this time too,” the leader said.

In 2014, the BJP had won all seven Lok Sabha seats, but 10 months later, the AAP had won 67 out of 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly election in 2015. Similarly, in 2019, the BJP again won all seven Lok Sabha seats, but months later, the AAP won 62 out of 70 seats in the Assembly election in 2020. 

The leader said that the party is yet to conduct a booth-level review, but on the face of it, of the about 10% vote share they lost this time compared to 2020, 6-7% is the party’s middle-class voters, who voted for the BJP this time. “These are people who are used to pressing phool ka button during Lok Sabha election, but used to vote for us during Assembly, as we gave them better benefits in Delhi,” he said.

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The leader also said that the party had done close-door meetings with middle-class voters in December and early January, before the nomination, but the RSS did a round of close door meetings towards the end of January and early February.