Arvind Kejriwal cites 2 reasons for AAP’s LS poll debacle

New Delhi: Days after his party suffered a crushing defeat in the general elections, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday that the AAP was not able to explain to the people why they should vote for them in the Lok Sabha polls.

In an open letter to party workers, Mr Kejriwal lauded their “superb” campaign that was considered to be one of the best in the country. He said: “The results, however, didn’t meet our expectations. Post election ground analysis has revealed two major reasons. First, the atmosphere that prevailed in the country rubbed off on Delhi as well. Second, people saw this “big election” as between Modi and Rahul and voted accordingly. Whatever be the reason, we were not able to explain to the public why they should vote for us in this big election.”

“On the brighter side”, Mr Kejriwal said, “people have been enthusiastically assuring us that in the small election for Delhi Vidhan Sabha, they will vote in the name of the incredible work we have done in Delhi”. He asserted that the Delhi government has not budged from the “corruption-free mission” that brought this party into existence six-and-a-half years ago.

“Despite unleashing the power of all government agencies on my ministers and me, they couldn’t find even a single ‘naya paisa’ worth of corruption. All the cases filed against our 20 MLAs were dismissed by the courts,” he added. Referring to the various achievements of his government, the CM said he looks forward to the continued support and commitment of his party workers in the Assembly elections, slated to be held early next year.

The AAP suffered a crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha polls and won just one out of over 40 seats on which it fielded its candidates. All seven of their candidates in Delhi also lost in the Lok Sabha polls.