With a little over 55,500 votes, Gahlot won on his home turf during the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections with a margin of around 6,000 votes. (Express)
Dipping popularity, both within and beyond the AAP, is being considered as the reason for former Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot’s decision to break ranks on Sunday, it is learnt.
His resignation, insiders said, came even as the AAP’s senior leadership was said to have “already decided on his replacement” from the same Jat community that the two-time Najafgarh MLA represents since it was “expecting” Gahlot’s exit “for several months now”.
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According to party insiders, the AAP’s senior leadership was peeved with Gahlot, and not for the first time.
A senior AAP leader said except for the 2020 Assembly polls, Gahlot was unable to put up a satisfactory performance in his constituency in successive political contests — from the 2017 MCD polls to the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. But it was his decision to preside over this year’s state Independence Day celebrations, according to sources, that was the last straw.
With the then Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal unavailable for the event since he was in judicial custody at the time in connection with the excise policy case, Gopal Rai, the Minister in charge of the General Administration Department which hosts the event, had nominated Atishi — who has the lion’s share of more than 13 Delhi government departments, and counting, under her charge — for the task quoting the AAP convener’s decision to this effect.
In response, Delhi L-G V K Saxena had nominated Gahlot, then Delhi’s Home Minister, to unfurl the Tricolour at the ceremony after being authorised by the Ministry of Home Affairs to choose a Delhi Cabinet minister for the same. “Arvind ji is understood to be personally peeved that Gahlot did not decline the L-G’s proposal to nominate him. He was not only likely to be dropped as a minister in the next AAP government, but the party was also unlikely to give him a ticket this time around citing proven lack of popularity in his constituency,” the insider added.
With a little over 55,500 votes, Gahlot won on his home turf during the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections with a margin of around 6,000 votes. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, at slightly above 22,300, the AAP had secured fewer votes in his Assembly constituency compared to the Congress’s 23,354.
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This year, with an alliance between the AAP and Congress in place for the Lok Sabha elections, the margin of defeat in Najafgarh was wider. BJP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat got almost 94,000 votes on the seat, securing her win with a margin of close to 29,000 votes compared to the Congress’s Mahabal Mishra who got slightly more than 65,000.
AAP leaders also alleged Gahlot was mostly missing from the ground during its Covid outreach. “The Delhi CM had issued directions to all AAP MLAs, especially its ministers, to hit the ground and make themselves available to the people as much as possible… Gahlot neither did so nor made himself available to party workers citing health concerns,” a leader claimed.
Jatin Anand is an Assistant Editor with the national political bureau of The Indian Express. With over 16 years of experience in mainstream journalism, he is a seasoned expert in national governance, electoral politics, and bureaucratic affairs. Having covered high-stakes beats including the Election Commission of India (ECI), intelligence, and urban development, Jatin provides authoritative analysis of the forces shaping Indian democracy. He is an alumnus of Zakir Husain Delhi College (DU) and the prestigious Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai, where he specialized in Print Journalism.
Expertise
High-Stakes Beat Coverage: Throughout his decade-and-a-half career, Jatin has covered some of the most sensitive and influential beats in the country, including:
The Election Commission of India (ECI): Monitoring electoral policy, reforms, and the conduct of national and state polls.
National Security & Intelligence: Reporting on the internal mechanisms and developments within India's security apparatus.
Urban Development: Analyzing the policies and bureaucratic processes driving the transformation of India’s cities.
National Political Bureau: In his current role, he tracks the intersection of policy and politics, offering deep-dive reporting on the Union government and national political movements.
Academic Credentials:
Zakir Husain Delhi College (DU): Alumnus of one of Delhi's premier institutions.
Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai: Specialized in Print Journalism at India's most prestigious journalism school. ... Read More
