Yes, we made mistakes, will introspect: Arvind Kejriwal after AAP’s drubbing in MCD polls

Till now, Arvind Kejriwal had been blaming Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering for the Aam Aadmi Party’s defeat in Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls.
New Delhi: After the Aam Aadmi Party’s unimpressive show in the civic polls in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday admitted that mistakes were made.
Till now, Kejriwal and most of the other top AAP leaders had been blaming Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering for the AAP’s defeat in Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls.
However, a few leaders came out in the open and said blaming the EVMs entirely for its poll defeats was wrong when “there is mistrust among people for us”. Vishwas, considered close to Chief Minister and party founder Arvind Kejriwal, had yesterday said the AAP needed to “introspect” over its defeat in the April 23 Delhi municipal polls.
On Saturday morning, Kejriwal called for a need to “introspect and course correct”.
The Delhi CM said that based on his interactions with “volunteers and voters”, it was obvious that the party made mistakes and there was a need to go back to the “drawing board”.
“Need is action and not excuses,” he said, amid growing clamour in the party to desist from raking up the issue of EVMs being “tampered with” to favour the BJP, an allegation rubbished by the Election Commission.
Kejriwal’s AAP is battling a crisis following the unimpressive show in the elections to the three municipal corporations. The MCD polls were held on April 23 and votes counted on April 26.
The Aam Aadmi Party won in 48 of the 270 wards of the three Delhi Municipal Corporations. The BJP swept the elections with 181.
Delhi AAP Convenor Dilip Pandey, Delhi campaign chief Ashish Talwar, and legislator Alka Lamba resigned on Wednesday following the AAP’s poor performance.
AAP was formed in late 2012, after the India Against Corruption movement led by Kejriwal and veteran activist Anna Hazare.
The party stormed to power in Delhi with an overwhelming majority of 67 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly in 2015, gaining prominence in the national stage.
Since then, it has focused on expanding its base beyond the national capital, but its foray in Punjab and Goa failed, and the party has also lost its grip over the national capital in the recent past.
In Punjab, the party did emerge as the primary opposition but the performance did not live up to the hype.
In Delhi, the party first lost the Rajouri Garden Assembly by-poll.