Bhubaneswar: Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) landslide victory in Punjab by garnering 92 out of 117 seats in the Assembly, the less than ten year old party is all set on its way to become a national political party.
In order to be recognised as a national party, a party must first be recognised as a State party in at least four States. According to the Election Commission of India, a party should maintain a consistent vote share of 6% of total number of valid votes polled by all the contesting candidates in Assembly elections and have a representation of one MLA for every thirty MLAs in the House, for it to be recognised as a State party.
AAP MLA from Rajendra Nagar, New Delhi Raghav Chadha has expressed confidence that his party has become a national force and would become a national party sooner than later.
After victory in Punjab, AAP needs to add two more States with more than 6% vote share to its portfolio, which it hopes it can do it in 2023 when Karnataka, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Telangana, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Tripura legislative assembly elections take place.
AAP in Punjab struck an immediate chord with voters because of the four pillars of its Delhi model of governance – quality government education, health, power and water at cheap rates.
The party wishes to use it as a model in other States.
But political analysts feel that it can hardly challenge the BJP in the Hindi heartland where voters are highly polarized on caste and religion and the money power that the saffron party has.
