Is AAP on verge of becoming a national party after its massive win in Punjab polls | Jagran Explainer

New Delhi | Jagran Politics Desk: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and party's Punjab Chief Minister-designate Bhagwant Mann will hold a massive roadshow in Amritsar on Sunday following the party's one-sided victory in Punjab assembly elections 2022.

The AAP had decimated all opposition parties in Punjab in the 2022 polls, winning 92 seats in the 117-member legislative assembly of the state. After its Punjab victory, the AAP has turned its eyes towards the next set of assembly elections - Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat - which are likely to be held later this year.

The party is particularly hopeful in Himachal Pradesh where it believes it has created its base in each of the 67 assembly seats.

"The AAP will create history in Himachal Pradesh like it has created in Punjab, and it will form its government in the hill state," AAP Himachal Pradesh president Anup Kesri told news agency PTI. "Further, the Punjab poll results will certainly have a positive impact on the AAP’s performance in Himachal Pradesh."

With Congress' decline across India and its rise in Punjab, the AAP is trying to emerge as a national party and pose a challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) across the country. The party also considers itself to a "natural and national" replacement of Congress.

"Arvind Kejriwal is the hope of crores of people. If God is willing and people give an opportunity, he will definitely be seen in a bigger role - that of the Prime Minister - soon. AAP will emerge as a major national political force," party leader Raghav Chadha told news agency ANI.

"Punjab polls show that AAP has emerged as a national political force. It took BJP ten years to form its first government in a state. It is not even ten years since AAP's inception and we are forming government in two states. AAP will be Congress' national and natural replacement," he added.

However, AAP's dream of becoming a national party might take some more time than expected. Explaining the reasons behind it, an ex-Election Commission (EC) official told PTI that a party needs State Party status in four states to automatically become a national party.

"There are multiple alternatives. If a party gets six per cent votes and two seats in legislative assembly, it gets the status of a State Party. Another alternative to get State Party status is to get at least three seats in assembly irrespective of vote share," he said.

"There are provisions regarding performance in Lok Sabha polls too. But they are due in 2024," the former poll panel official noted.

Kejriwal's AAP got 54 per cent vote share in Delhi assembly elections 2020. In Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Goa, it got a vote share of 0.3 per cent, 42 per cent, 3.4 per cent, and 6.77 per cent respectively, according to the EC.

The term of the Himachal Pradesh assembly ends on January 8, 2023, and that of Gujarat on February 18 next year. The two elections can be held either late this year or early 2023. The AAP has been working hard in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh preparing its ground for the polls.

According to the EC, there are eight National Parties - Trinamool Congress (TMC), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), BJP, Communist Party of India (CPI), CPI(M), Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and National People's Party (NPP) - at present.