New Delhi/Ahmedabad, May 12 (IANS) The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has announced the appointment of three additional co-incharges for Gujarat as the party attempts to strengthen its organisational structure in the state following a disappointing performance in the recent local body elections.

In an official notification issued on Tuesday, AAP named Vinay Mishra, Dinesh Mohania and Gaurav Sharma as additional co-incharges for Gujarat.

The appointments come weeks after AAP suffered a major setback in the state local body elections, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retained overwhelming dominance across urban and rural local bodies.

According to election data published after the polls, the BJP swept all 15 municipal corporations in Gujarat, while AAP failed to register any major breakthrough despite contesting more than 5,000 seats.

The party’s sharpest decline was recorded in Surat, once considered AAP’s strongest urban base in Gujarat. In the 2021 civic elections, AAP had emerged as the principal opposition in the Surat Municipal Corporation with 27 seats.

However, in the 2026 polls, the party was reduced to just four seats. Sources on the election outcome described the results as a significant setback for the Arvind Kejriwal-led party ahead of the 2027 state Assembly elections.

AAP, however, managed limited gains in some rural pockets, including opening its account in a district panchayat in Narmada.

The organisational changes in Gujarat also come amid turbulence for AAP at the national level after a major split in its Rajya Sabha ranks last month.

Seven of the party’s 10 Rajya Sabha MPs, including Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh and Swati Maliwal, quit AAP and merged with the BJP, dealing a significant blow to the party’s parliamentary strength.

Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan later accepted the merger, reducing AAP’s strength in the Upper House to just three MPs.

The latest organisational reshuffle is being seen as part of the party’s effort to rebuild its cadre and political presence in Gujarat after the local poll losses.

–IANS

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