AFTER SANGRUR DEFEAT, AAP HAS NO MP IN LS
NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is looking to expand its electoral footprint, lost its lone Lok Sabha seat after it failed to retain the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat.
AAP candidate Gurmail Singh, president of the party in Sangrur district, failed to win the June 23 bypoll at Sangrur parliamentary constituency, the results of which was declared on Sunday. He lost to Simranjit Singh Mann, president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), a splinter group of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) led by the Badal family, by a narrow margin of 5,822 votes. Sangrur, considered the home turf of Bhagwant Mann, went to the polls after Mann took oath as Punjab chief minister on March 16. The defeat came a little over three months after the AAP registered a thumping win in Punjab.
“I humbly accept the verdict given by people of Sangrur. I am working day and night with honesty for the progress and prosperity of Punjab and will continue to work harder…I am your son and will spare no effort to brighten the future of your families,” Mann said on Twitter.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the AAP managed to win just one seat from Sangrur, with a vote share of 7.36%. AAP members in the Rajya Sabha, however, have increased to 10 due to its victory in Punjab assembly elections in March. The party now has three Rajya Sabha MPs from Delhi and seven from Punjab.
The party is hopeful of a better performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “The AAP is expanding its base beyond Delhi and Punjab. It is getting positive responses in Gujarat, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Goa, Assam and several other states,” a party functionary said on condition of anonymity.