AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) faced a major setback in the Delhi elections. Under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, the party was reduced to just 22 seats. Not only that, several prominent AAP leaders also failed to retain their seats. The party, which came to power on the issue of fighting corruption, found its own leaders embroiled in corruption charges. As a result, even Arvind Kejriwal had to go to jail in the liquor scam case, while Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain also ended up in jail. Therefore, these three leaders from AAP, who went to jail, failed the electoral test.
Kejriwal’s Defeat
Arvind Kejriwal contested the election from the New Delhi seat and lost to BJP’s Pravesh Verma. Pravesh Verma defeated Kejriwal by 4,089 votes. This clearly indicates that the public rejected Kejriwal, and he failed the electoral test.
In the liquor scam, Arvind Kejriwal was summoned multiple times by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), but he did not appear. Later, he was arrested. Kejriwal went to jail but did not resign from his position and continued running the government from jail. However, after coming out of jail, he resigned as Chief Minister and appointed Atishi as the new CM. After resigning, Kejriwal stated that he would go to the court of public opinion. Kejriwal and AAP claimed that the corruption charges were politically motivated, but despite this, Kejriwal lost the election.
Manish Sisodia’s Defeat
Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI in the alleged liquor scam case. He was accused of making irregularities while implementing the liquor policy for 2021-22 and engaging in corruption. The CBI and ED alleged that Sisodia designed the liquor policy to benefit certain private companies. It was also alleged that bribes of ₹100 crore were taken from liquor traders, which were used for AAP’s election campaign in Goa. In this case, Sisodia went to jail. Sisodia left his traditional seat of Patparganj and contested from Jangpura but failed to win the voters’ hearts and lost by just 675 votes to BJP’s Tarvinder Singh Marwah.
Satyendar Jain’s Defeat
Former Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on May 30, 2022, in a money laundering case. Jain, a prominent AAP leader and minister in the Delhi government, was accused of laundering ₹16.39 crore through fake companies in 2015-16. After his arrest, he was sent to Tihar Jail. Satyendar Jain contested from Shakur Basti but lost by 20,998 votes. He was defeated by BJP’s Karnail Singh.
Conclusion
The Delhi elections dealt a significant blow to AAP, and the failure of the three prominent leaders—Kejriwal, Sisodia, and Satyendar Jain—indicates that the corruption charges severely affected their public image. These leaders, who had come to power promising to fight corruption, found themselves entangled in corruption allegations and failed the electoral test.
