Post polls, AAP hopes for national party tag

The exit polls have given the mandate to Modi-led NDA but India's nascent political outfit -- Aam Aadmi Party -- is still hoping that it gets the tag of a national player.
 

Exit polls have predicted that the party could win upto five seats across the country with maximum gains from Punjab, where the range varies from 0-3 seats.

AAP, which had a spectacular debut in the Delhi assembly elections last year, was recognised as a state party after it won around 29% vote share in the elections. The party had managed to secure 28 seats of the total 70 in the Assembly and formed the government for 49 days with the outside support of the Congress party.

 

"Besides Delhi and Punjab, AAP needs 6% votes in two more states to be a national recognised party. Possibilities: Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand. (sic)," said Yogendra Yadav, senior party leader and a psephologist on micro-blogging site Twitter.

 

For a party to gain the status of a national party, it has to gather at least 6% vote share in any four states or more and win at least four Lok Sabha seats in all. The AAP has fielded a total of 434 candidates in almost all the states.

 

According to CNN-IBN CSDS poll, AAP will likely gather maximum 2 seats in Delhi with a vote share of almost one-third of the voters (31%). In Punjab, the survey showed, AAP might win 1-3 seats with a vote share of 21%.

 

A survey by C-Voter predicted that AAP will win a total of 6 seats -- 1 in Maharashtra, upto 3 in Punjab and 2 in Delhi. Although Times Now-ORG India poll did not give any seat to AAP, it has forecast that the party will win 12% vote share in Delhi and 10% in Punjab. India Today-Cicero and ABP-Nielsen also projected upto 2 seats for AAP in Delhi.

 

The party had drawn a lot of flak when its chief Arvind Kejriwal resigned from the post of the Delhi Chief Minister. But AAP, undeterred, is still hoping to gain more ground than what the exit polls have in store for them.

"Delhi: exit polls show AAP has improved vote share since assembly elections. Here too AAP can win more seats than predicted by the exit polls," Yadav said.

 

However, for the party, the major breakthrough was not Delhi but Punjab where it seems to have garnered the support of the youth.

"Best news from exit polls: after Delhi, AAP has achieved its second political breakthrough in Punjab," said Yadav. The ABP-Nielsen survey has predicted AAP to gain 27% vote share in the state.

 

"Punjab is not condemned to choose between Congress and SAD (Shiromani Akali Dal). If AAP exceeds this projection by a few points, it can pick many more seats in Punjab," the party said.

 

Yadav, who contested from Gurgaon constituency in Haryana, was not hopeful of gaining any seats in the state.