AAP fails to emerge as third option in Gujarat Lok Sabha polls

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had claimed that it would emerge as a third alternative for the people of Gujarat after the BJP and Congress, has failed to capture the imagination of the people since its candidates secured merely 1.2 per cent of the votes.

The vote share of AAP which had put up candidates from 24 of 26 seats in Gujarat was even less than 'None Of The Above' (NOTA) votes which was preferred by 1.8 per cent of voters.

AAP managed to get only 3,01,558 votes across Gujarat state or 1.2 per cent of the votes.

In Chhota Udaipur Lok Sabha constituency, AAP candidate Arjun Rathwa performed moderately, getting 23,116 votes compared to other candidates of his party.

AAP candidate Ruturaj Mehta, who had contested against BJP veteran and former deputy prime minister L K Advani from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat, secured 19,966 votes, reaching the third position.

The party's candidate from the Surat Lok Sabha seat Mohan Patel also secured third postition and obtained 18,877 votes.

Nathalal Sukhadia, an RTI activist who contested against former Gujarat agriculture and law minister Dilip Sanghani, got 15,520 votes and remained at number three position.

AAP's Vadodara Lok Sabha seat candidate Sunil Digambar Kulkarni who contested against BJP's PM nominee Narendra Modi polled 10,101 votes.

Dinesh Waghela of the AAP who had contested against Bollywood actor and BJP candidate Paresh Rawal and Congress candidate Himmatsinh Patel, received 11,349 votes from the Ahmedabad East seat. Ten AAP candidates did not even managed to cross the ten thousand votes mark.

AAP candidates include Ravji Parmar (2,442 votes) from Anand Lok Sabha seat, Sanjay Raval (6,571 votes) from Banaskantha, Jayendra Sinh Rana (4,818 votes), K C Muniya (4,849 votes) from Dahod, Rajendra Sinh Jhala (4,911 votes) from Jamnagar.

Other AAP candidates Labhu Badhiwala (3,742 votes) from Kheda, Vandana Patel (3,731 votes) from Mehsana, Piyush Parmar (6,935 votes) from Panchmahal, Mansukh Dhokhai (7,939 votes) from Porbandar and Govind Patel (8,047 votes) from Valsad.