The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is gearing up to contest all 90 seats in the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections, scheduled for October this year. Party leaders made this announcement during the campaign launch in Panchkula on Saturday.

During the event, Sunita Kejriwal, wife of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, along with other senior party leaders, introduced “Kejriwal’s five guarantees” for Haryana, similar to the promises made in Punjab and Delhi.

Arvind Kejriwal has been in judicial custody in Tihar Jail for the past few months in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.

Despite Kejriwal’s leadership in previous campaigns, AAP has struggled in Haryana, failing to secure any wins in both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. In their debut during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, AAP contested all 10 parliamentary seats but performed poorly, with all candidates losing their security deposits and securing only 4.2% of the vote share.

Notable AAP candidates from that election included Yogendra Yadav, who later formed his own party after finishing fourth in Gurgaon, and Naveen Jaihind, who lost in Rohtak. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, AAP formed an alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) but failed to make a significant impact, with BJP winning all seats.

In the 2019 Haryana Assembly polls, AAP contested 46 seats independently but garnered less than 1% of the vote share. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as part of the INDIA bloc’s seat-sharing arrangement with Congress, AAP contested the Kurukshetra seat but lost to BJP’s Naveen Jindal.

Despite past setbacks, AAP leaders claim the party is now in a stronger position in Haryana, citing their governance success in Delhi and Punjab. Sushil Gupta, Haryana AAP president, expressed confidence in the party’s improved prospects and highlighted Kejriwal’s roots in Haryana’s Bhiwani district.

At the Panchkula meeting, Sunita Kejriwal announced “Kejriwal’s five guarantees”: free electricity for domestic consumers, Rs 1,000 per month for every woman, free medical treatment, free education, and employment opportunities for the unemployed. She emphasized Kejriwal’s connection to Haryana, urging people to vote for AAP.

Sushil Gupta added that AAP workers have significantly increased the party’s visibility in Haryana and claimed the party was close to victory in the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha elections, winning four out of nine Assembly segments.

The Congress, which allied with AAP in the previous Lok Sabha polls, has now stated it will not partner with AAP in the upcoming Haryana elections.