NEW DELHI: As the dust settled on the most vitriolic poll campaign seen in Delhi’s history on Thursday, the election machinery of the three main contenders — AAP, BJP and the Congress ground to a halt.
While the ruling party rested its campaign on development in education and health sectors and freebies offered to people, the BJP placed its bet on national issues such as protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Congress chose to woo voters with memories of late CM Shiela Dikshit.
Making it a tough fight for CM Arvind Kejriwal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah rejuvenated the cadre to target deep sentiments of 1.4 crore voters and egg them to shift loyalties while voting for the 70 Assembly segments on February 8.
The attempts by some BJP leaders — MP Parvesh Verma and Assembly poll candidate Kapil Mishra — seems to have worked amidst slogans such as ‘Desh Ke Gadaron ko...’ Verma even equated Kejriwal with a “terrorist”, forcing the CM to appeal to people to prove him wrong.
“I have worked like an elder brother, a son. People should decide who’s the terrorist,” the CM said.
Kejriwal tweeted, “Campaign is over. I am proud of every activist and supporter of AAP who won the hearts of people by running a model election campaign. God always supports those who do work on the path of truth. I am confident that on February 8, people will vote for work.”
For BJP, Shaheen Bagh became the campaign pitch to reinforce the idea of ‘anti-nationals’. AAP hit back, with Prashant Kishor’s IPAC flooding social media with measured digs at the saffron party.