AAP’s downfall: From second in 2014 to fourth in 2019

Ludhiana: From being at second place in 2014 Lok Sabha elections to finishing fourth in 2019 elections, it has been downhill journey for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Lok Sabha elections.
In 2014, AAP had fielded senior advocate H S Phoolka from Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat, who had finished second by bagging more than 2.80 lakh votes and was defeated by Congress candidate Ravneet Bittu by more than 19,000 votes. However in these elections, after Phoolka resigned from the party, the latter had fielded a young face, Tejpal Singh Gill, who finished fourth by getting more than 15,800 votes. In comparison, Bittu secured more than 3.8 lakh votes.
Party members admit that such a fall in the number of votes has definitely been humiliation of sorts for the party, that had shown a lot of promise in last parliamentary elections. The party candidate Tejpal Singh Gill admits that the drastic fall in the number of votes is a cause of concern. “We will definitely analyze such steep fall in number of votes of the party and rectify the mistakes to make the party stronger. I think that leaving of H S Phoolka did reflect badly on us as our voters doubted whether I will stay in politics after I win as he had quit politics. We have to start afresh in Ludhiana and elsewhere and to start we will have a full fledged office in the city. We will also focus on people’s issues,” said Tejpal.
Asked whether such a massive fall in the number of votes marks end of AAP in Ludhiana, AAP candidate said that this was the beginning of their struggle to make the party best in Ludhiana and elsewhere. He assured that the party would see rejuvenation.
Meanwhile, educationist Sardara Singh Johal who is a keen observer of politics, said the party had been completely routed in the state, excluding Bhagwant Mann, who won because of his personal rapport. “Their workers got frustrated after they failed to come up to the expectations after the party won more than 20 seats in the state elections. AAP’s existence is almost finished in the state and it will take them a very long time to rejuvenate if they keep on,” said Sardara Singh Johal.
In the 2017 assembly elections, then AAP candidate H S Phoolka had won the Dakha seat by more than 4,100 votes while in this Lok Sabha elections AAP Lok Sabha candidate got around 2,300 votes from the entire segment.