New Delhi, September 25 (IANS). Voting for the assembly elections in Haryana is to be held on October 5. In such a situation, all the political parties have put their full strength in this election season. The main contest for the assembly elections to be held in Haryana was considered to be between the ruling BJP and the Congress, but this was only till the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) did not reveal all its cards.
After the announcement of the election dates in the state, political experts started believing that there is an anti-incumbency wave in the state against the 10 years of work of the BJP government, which can benefit the Congress in this election. But, the entry of Aam Aadmi Party in the state elections has definitely reduced the problems of BJP and increased the problems of Congress.
Actually, the reason behind this is the election results of some states, which are indicating how the entry of Aam Aadmi Party in Haryana has become a cause of trouble for the Congress. When all the efforts of Congress and Aam Aadmi Party to form an alliance for the Haryana elections went in vain, then AAP decided that the party will field its candidates on 90 assembly seats here.
With this announcement of Aam Aadmi Party, the Congress leaders and workers in the state realized that now it will be difficult for their party to sail through the Haryana Assembly elections.
The reason behind this thinking is also clear, because from the election results of Delhi to Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, Congress has come to know that wherever Congress will be in the election fray as the first or second largest party, the entry of AAP will spoil the entire game of Congress.
Actually, Congress has understood that the vote bank of Aam Aadmi Party is the same as that of Congress. In such a situation, division of votes between the two is going to give a big advantage to the third party.
The same was seen in the recent assembly elections in states like Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan. During the Lok Sabha elections, when Congress and AAP were fighting the elections together against BJP, BJP had to suffer losses in many states. But, this alliance did not work in the assembly elections and AAP-Congress decided to fight the elections separately in Haryana.
This picture was clearly visible during the assembly elections held in Uttarakhand and Punjab. While Congress was in power in Punjab, BJP was running the government in Uttarakhand. In such a situation, Aam Aadmi Party entered the election fray with full force in both the states. Congress was in power in Punjab, so AAP caused more damage to Congress there and came to power by removing Congress. However, the support base of BJP there has been nominal. In such a situation, there was no direct competition between both the parties with BJP.
On the other hand, BJP was in power in Uttarakhand for a long time and people thought that due to the anti-incumbency wave, people might choose Congress this time. But, the opposite happened. Congress suffered a setback here, most of the Aam Aadmi Party candidates could not even save their deposits and ultimately BJP maintained its dominance in this state.
Now if we look at the election results of Goa and Gujarat, we will find that there was an anti-incumbency wave against the BJP in these states as well and the Congress felt that it would be able to form the government in both states. But, nothing like this happened. The entry of Aam Aadmi Party caused huge damage to the Congress in both Goa and Gujarat. In Gujarat, the BJP returned to power with such a big majority, which it had not even thought of. At the same time, the BJP was able to form the government in Goa as well and the biggest reason for this was the Aam Aadmi Party making a dent in the vote bank of the Congress.
Now let us look at the election results of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. AAP did put in all its efforts in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, but it was not contesting on all the seats. In such a situation, on the seats where AAP had fielded candidates against Congress, Congress suffered losses and BJP gained an edge. The result was that BJP made a comeback in Madhya Pradesh and in Rajasthan, power slipped out of the hands of Congress and fell into the lap of BJP.
The most surprising result in all this came from Chhattisgarh, where all the survey data at that time were testifying that the Congress Party could once again return to power in the state.
However, the election results surprised everyone and all political analysts including the Congress believed that the reason behind the massive victory of the BJP here was the Aam Aadmi Party, which had made a dent in the vote bank of the Congress.
By the way, Congress had started believing since the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections that the power of Delhi had slipped out of their hands because of the Aam Aadmi Party. In that election, AAP had won 28 seats in Delhi. After this, the government was formed here in alliance with Congress and then Arvind Kejriwal resigned in 2014. After this, in the elections held in Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party got such a huge majority, which no one had even imagined. Congress was wiped out. Congress also accepted that its vote bank has completely shifted to the account of Aam Aadmi Party.
Aam Aadmi Party also knows that it is easier to make a dent in the vote bank of Congress because BJP has a vote bank of a particular class and thinking. Whereas, a large part of the society had supported Congress till now.
In such a situation, Aam Aadmi Party attacked it and now seeing the way the activities of AAP leaders and Arvind Kejriwal have increased in Haryana, Congress has understood that this step of AAP may benefit BJP, because in Haryana too, AAP is trying to woo the vote bank of Congress.
–IANS
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