‘Torch’ may have cost us a shot at power: AAP

In two of constituencies — Janakpuri and Kalkaji — where AAP lost to BJP,the winning margin was less than the number of votes polled by the Independent candidates,who were contesting on the torch symbol.

In Kalkaji,Dharmender Kumar,who contested on the torch symbol,polled 3,092 votes. The AAP lost to the BJP here by 2,044 votes.

In Janakpuri,the AAP candidate was defeated by 2,644 votes. Sanjay Puri,the Independent whose election symbol too was the torch,got 4,332 votes.

“We noticed this during counting. The Independent,who contested on the torch symbol in Laxmi Nagar,was sitting beside our candidate and he seemed surprised by the votes he got. Later,when we started analysing the results,we found that the torch symbol had polled more votes than many Independents. In Janakpuri and Kalkaji,the symbol had polled more than our margin of defeat,” an AAP worker said.

The finding,sources said,has rattled the AAP leadership. The symbol confusion may have just stopped it short of becoming the single largest party. Had these two seats gone the AAP way,its tally would have been 30.

The party also seems to have failed in winning over Muslims,especially in areas such as Okhla,Seelampur and Ballimaran. According to AAP surveys,as polling day neared,there was a propaganda,the party claimed,that a vote for AAP would be a vote for BJP. This may have made them vote en bloc for Congress,a member of AAP’s election committee claimed.

Analysis also shows that while polling in favour of the BJP was constant through the day,the AAP graph peaked in the morning and went down as the day progressed. In the case of the Congress,more votes came its way towards the end of polling day.

“The last burst of polling,which happened late evening,benefited the Congress. Many of our agents started relaxing by 2 pm. They didn’t know that this was when traditional political parties picked up momentum,” an AAP leader said.