A view of the AAP following the party’s defeat in Punjab and Goa Assembly elections in New Delhi on Saturday. (PTI Photo) A view of the AAP following the party’s defeat in Punjab and Goa Assembly elections in New Delhi on Saturday. (PTI Photo)

A leaked video of leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party ‘celebrating’ its supposed ‘victory’ in the elections in Punjab is doing the rounds of social media. The video shows senior leader Sanjay Singh and other party members singing and toasting the party’s victory in the election. Singh is even heard saying that the party is ‘crossing 100 seats’ and ready to form the government. At one point, he says ’11 March ka live dekh rahe hai (We are watching March 11’s live.)’ The leaders even call Bhagwant Mann and tell him that after the end of 11th round of counting, he is seen to be leading by 50,000 votes in the Jalalabad constituency. Laughing and cheering, the leaders ask Mann, ‘Are you a chief ministerial contender now?’



The reality on the evening of March 11, the day of the results, was however starkly different. The AAP had suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of the Congress notching wins in just 20 constituencies out of the state’s 117. The Congress cruised to power with wins in 77 seats and the incumbent SAD-BJP alliance ending third with 18 seats. The result was also disappointing for Mann who was defeated by deputy chief minister and SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal by nearly 20,000 votes.

Sanjay Singh reacted to the video, that was telecast on Aaj Tak as well, on Twitter clarifying that the video was old and taken on February 4 after polling ended. “This is not a Talibani party. We have the freedom to laugh and joke,” he said in a tweet.

ये विडीओ 4 Feb का है चुनाव सम्पन्न होने के बाद हमलोग आपस में हँसी मज़ाक़ कर रहे थे,ये कोई तालिबानी पार्टी यहाँ हँसी मज़ाक़ की आज़ादी है https://t.co/5c8pUFW6J3 — Sanjay Singh AAP (@SanjayAzadSln) March 14, 2017

On the day of the results, the party prepared for the victory by putting up a giant dais with a screen near Arvind Kejriwal’s residence. However, as the Election Commission leads pointed to a AAP defeat, party workers quickly dispersed and celebrations were called off. The AAP, which contested elections in Goa too, could not win a single seat as its chief ministerial candidate Elvis Gomes himself was defeated. The state threw up a fractured verdict with the Congress emerging as the single largest party closely followed by the BJP.

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