India state election results: BJP wins, but watch rise of AAP outside Delhi

India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is winning state elections one by one, but if the results of the recently finished polls are an indication, it's the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which has emerged as the true winner.

For a party that was born out of a civil movement in Delhi, all eyes will be on AAP and its leaders who are likely to replace India's grand old party, Congress, as the primary opponent in national politics.

Led by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the 10-year-old party is already bringing significant change, and later this year, it would be interesting to keep an eye on their vote share in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The main challenger for the BJP is now AAP.

In the political sky of India, a new star has appeared.

Despite the fact that the BJP's Hindutva ideology was a crucial factor in Modi's rise to national prominence, his developmental achievements and constant electoral victories as Gujarat's chief minister benefited him in establishing himself as a national figure.

Political divisions can carry a party to a certain point, but the voters' trust in the party helps to turn any party into a national force.

Victory in the state of Punjab is AAP's first foray outside the Indian capital, and they have begun to erase the party's reputation as a Delhi-centric party.

During the Congress's most recent term in Punjab, the party's most well-known figure, former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, resigned in the face of unprecedented farmer protests.

The resulting chaos has given the AAP the opportunity to contend for power for the first time, nine years after its victory in Delhi.

Despite its claims to be the "aam aadmi," or "common man's" party, the AAP's Punjab story is also about how the hopes of its volunteers—many of whom donated time and money to the party because they believed in its stated agenda of self-governance, transparency, and democracy—were sacrificed on the altar of politics.

Voters, based on recent trends, demand a change in the face of opposition.

This tendency indicates that the AAP would be an appropriate replacement for the Congress Party in national politics.

What worked for AAP

Indian voters have made it plain that they expect their politicians to be accountable, and they are unlikely to be misled by the plethora of freebies announced by each political party.

AAP tapped into the frustrations of millions of ordinary Punjabis who are unable to obtain work, gain access to public education and health care, or earn a living via agriculture.

That is why the AAP has gained a large number of seats in the 2022 assembly election, despite the fact that it has never held power in Punjab and is exhibiting its governance record in the national capital Delhi.

A case study

For decades to come, the Congress' poor performance in Punjab's Assembly election 2022 and the astonishing growth of the AAP would serve as a case study for students of Indian politics due to two important milestones.

One, for the first time in Punjab's history, a non-Shriromani Akali Dal, non-Congress government will be in power.

Two, by 2022, Congress had honed its skills at orchestrating and planning its own demise. Congress not only snatched loss from the mouths of triumph, but also a humiliating rout from a sure victory.