NEW DELHI: The spotlight is on the three major parties — BJP, AAP and Congress — as Delhi votes in the Lok Sabha polls on May 12, but around 30 other parties are also in the fray.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the third-largest party in India in terms of vote share, has fielded candidates for five seats — Chandni Chowk, South Delhi, North East Delhi, East Delhi and West Delhi. The BSP’s Delhi unit chief, Surendra Kumar, claims the party will win all five seats, but a political expert said it would merely eat into the Dalit votes of other parties.
“The Dalits will give a befitting response to the BJP’s devious designs of depriving them of their rights,” Kumar told this newspaper. “(CM Arvind) Kejriwal has failed his promises. The Dalits have turned against the BJP, AAP and the Congress for being neck-deep in scams.”
In 2009, the BSP bagged 5.34 per cent of the votes polled in Delhi. Its share dropped to 1.23 per cent in 2014.
“While the BSP will do better than 2014, it won’t fare very well. They will cut into the Dalit vote bank and wean away Jatav voters from the AAP, Congress and the BJP,” said Badri Narayan, a JNU professor and a political expert. “If they improve their tally, they’ll underscore their value in the country’s political landscape,” Narayan added.
While none of the three major parties have fielded Muslim candidates, the BSP has put Shahid Ali in the fray in Muslim-dominated Chandni Chowk. The ploy, said Narayan, could help the party garner Muslim votes in the constituency.
Among the smaller parties in the fray are Ambedkar National Congress, Anjaan Aadmi Party, Aapki Apni
Party and the Bharatiya Insan Party. They have fielded candidates for all seven seats in Delhi.
Political expert Sandeep Shastri attributes the emergence of the smaller parties to the success of AAP. “These groups represent single interests, single agendas,” Shastri said, adding they would have little impact on the polls.