AAP’s defeat in Delhi election lifts the Congress’s spirits in Punjab

The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) debacle in the Delhi Assembly election is all set to lift the Congress’s spirits in Punjab. The Congress is the principal Opposition in the State, and is wasting no time in pinning down the ruling AAP electorally.

The AAP is now only in power in Punjab. The next Punjab Assembly election will be held in 2027.

Claiming that the defeat in Delhi had burst the AAP’s bubble, senior Congress leader and former Punjab Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal on Sunday (February 9, 2025) said the poll results would augment the already existing restlessness in the AAP cadre, which would eventually bring about the AAP’s end.

“There’s a lot of restlessness in members of the AAP, including the MLAs, and this defeat would only increase the restlessness. Many of the AAP members are former Congress people. So, anything is possible. Besides, within the AAP, there’s rivalry, and differences between the Delhi and Punjab units, which could widen after the defeat,” Ms. Bathal told The Hindu, when asked about AAP MLAs connecting with the Congress.

“The AAP was able to form government in Delhi and Punjab on lies. But their defeat in Delhi reflects they have been exposed. They failed to keep their promises. The AAP will meet the same fate in Punjab as well,” she said. The Congress, which has already been exposing the AAP government’s misgovernance in Punjab, would now corner the AAP with a renewed vigour over its “failures” and “unfulfilled promises” in the days to come, Ms. Bathal said.

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Although the Congress fared poorly in the just concluded Delhi Assembly election, the party is seen as the AAP’s key challenger in Punjab. With a well-established organisational set-up, and active leaders and workers on the ground, the Congress is seen as being capable of wresting power from the AAP, which has faced successive electoral setbacks since it came to power in Punjab with a landslide victory in the 2022 Assembly election. The party’s latest defeat in Delhi will only add to its woes in Punjab. 

“A lot will happen in Punjab,” Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly and Congress MLA from Qadian Partap Singh Bajwa said after the AAP’s defeat in Delhi. Mr. Bajwa claimed that as many as 30 AAP MLAs were in touch with the Congress and could switch sides.

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Apart from the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are also expected to sharpen their attack against the AAP’s unkept promises after three years of power in Punjab.

Some of the AAP’s key 2022 pre-poll promises remain unmet. They include procurement of 22 crops at the minimum support price (MSP); ₹1,000 financial assistance to all women in the 18 years and above age group; wiping out the drug menace in the State within four months of forming government; and restoring the Old Pension Scheme for government employees. The pressure on the AAP to deliver will only mount further in view of its defeat in Delhi. 

The political fallout of the AAP’s poor performance in Delhi is likely to reflect on the AAP when the State gears up for the next Assembly election.