Arvind Kejriwal On “Biggest Lesson” From Haryana Elections

One should never be overconfident in polls. That, says Arvind Kejriwal is the biggest takeaway from the Haryana elections as his Aam Aadmi Party or AAP, going it alone on 89 seats, failed to open its account in the state.

The BJP, defying exit polls’ predictions and breaking poll records, is set to canter home a third time in Haryana. It is leading in 50 of the 90 seats.

“Let us see what the results are in Haryana. The biggest lesson of this is that one should never be overconfident in the elections,” said Mr Kejriwal addressing a gathering of the AAP municipal councillors.

The AAP candidates are trailing on almost all the seats behind their BJP and Congress opponents.

“No election should be taken lightly. Each election and each seat is tough,” he added.

Mr Kejriwal had earlier during the poll campaign in Haryana asserted that no government would be formed in the state without the AAP’s support.

While in Jammu and Kashmir, where the polls were held after a decade, the AAP managed to spring a surprise by winning a seat.

Mehraj Malik – who handed his party a first ever election win in Jammu and Kashmir, in local body polls in December 2020 – won the race Doda seat.

The Doda seat was won by the BJP’s Shakti Raj in the 2014 election, but has traditionally flipped between the National Conference and the Congress since the first poll in 1962.

The Congress, AAP’s INDIA alliance partner at the national level, also was in for a rude jolt. All exit polls predicted a sweeping win for the national party, but as counting began the picture changed quite dramatically, with BJP displacing the pollsters’ favourite and leading by a huge margin.