AAP draws blank in Assembly polls, says results show end of Modi wave, BJP

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which failed to bag even a single seat in the Assembly elections in three of the five states where it was contesting, on Tuesday said the results show that it is end of Modi wave and the BJP rule in the country.

Speaking to IANS, senior AAP leader Gopal Rai said the main aim of AAP in the three states was to strengthen and expand the party, which the party did successfully.

"We contested the election with an aim to expand the party. With these elections, the party managed to achieve this aim. The campaign was done at the local level. The party has successfully reached villages in each area in the three state," he said.

Until late evening on Tuesday, the AAP, which had fielded its candidates in 85 seats out of 90 seats in Chhattisgarh, got 0.9 per cent of votes (1,04,362 votes), while NOTA (none of the above) votes were 2.1 per cent of the votes counted (2,49,484 votes) in the state. The Congress was leading in 68 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was leading in 16.

Of the 230 seats, AAP was contesting 208 seats in Madhya Pradesh. There it managed to get 0.7 per cent of votes (2,36,894 votes in number), while NOTA votes were 1.5 per cent of the counted votes (5,08,477 votes in number) in the state. Both Congress and BJP were leading on 111 seats in MP.

In Rajasthan, the party got only 1,35,360 votes (0.4 per cent of the total vote count), where 143 candidates were fielded by the AAP out of the total 199 seats. The Congress was leading in 99 seats, while BJP was leading in 73.

"The results hint at an end of the BJP and the Modi-era in the country. The people want a change. The Modi wave has also ended. This will also be reflected in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections," Rai said.

"The people have selected the most powerful parties in each state against the BJP. The results show that the locally strong parties have emerged strongest to defeat the BJP. The Congress was strong in three states, so people went with it, while in Telangana people selected TRS."

The results, he added, also show that the AAP will be the strongest party in Delhi to challenge the BJP in 2019 and to do the same, he said the AAP will launch a door-to-door campaign in the national capital from Friday to defeat the saffron party in the Lok Sabha polls next year.

Other senior AAP leaders also celebrated the defeat of BJP.

While party MP Sanjay Singh said: "2019 will see BJP-free India", party's Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called it a "countdown" of Modi-era.