ISAS Insights

In the space of just over a year, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in India has already witnessed a meteoric rise to power, having transformed from a civil society movement into a full-fledged political party with more than a million members. Its stunning performance in the Delhi Assembly elections in December 2013, securing 28 seats, just four less than the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was all the more impressive, considering that it was the first-ever election for the party. Since then, the party's journey has been more than a little shaky. Ending its 49 day-stint as a minority government in Delhi was party leader Arvind Kejriwal's resignation from the position of Chief Minister. Whether this move signals a more troubled fate for the party's future remains to be seen (though an NDTV opinion poll found '49 per cent' of its respondents saying that 'Mr Kejriwal's resignation has improved his party's prospects in the Lok Sabha elections', due in April-May 2014).