NEW DELHI: After its impressive showing in the Chandigarh civic polls, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is even more confident of sweeping the Delhi municipal polls scheduled in April next year. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has ruled the municipal corporations for 15 straight years, however, said that it will retain its vote share in Delhi this time as well.
Senior AAP leaders said its mega poll campaign will be launched around March first week, as elections are likely to be scheduled in April-end. Durgesh Pathak, AAP’s municipal affairs in-charge, said the mega campaign will focus on three major civic issues plaguing Delhi — waste management, landfills and corruption within the corporations.
“While over 10 lakh people joined the party as part of our MCD Badlaav campaign, the mega campaign will be launched a month before elections. It will focus on the corporations, including corruption leading to fund crunch, the three city landfills that have become eyesores and day-to-day waste management. In Chandigarh also, people were facing similar issues with the BJP,” said Pathak.
He added that the party is confident of a “clean sweep” in Delhi civic polls, as the BJP has a long-standing anti-incumbency. “Also, our policy research teams are working on how to deal with the city’s waste and cap the landfills — an issue on which BJP is at present spending crores renting trommel machines, while daily city waste is still reaching landfills,” he said.
While AAP is the ruling party in Delhi government, the BJP rules the city’s three municipal corporations — South, North and East. Senior BJP leaders said they will remain in power across the three MCDs, as Delhi has different dynamics than Chandigarh. “Our vote share of 32 to 36% will remain intact as the municipal corporations have done a lot of work on the ground. Fifty per cent of the dhaloas (three-walled open dumpyards) have been done away with. Since the pandemic struck, free ration is being distributed to the poor under the Centre’s scheme,” said a senior BJP leader, who didn’t wish to be named.
Delhi BJP vice-president Virendra Sachdeva foresees a majority in the upcoming polls. “The AAP only promised freebies even in Chandigarh and that’s their only poll plank while they spend most of the taxpayers’ money in advertisements. Civic polls are where people see their candidates and not the party as such. AAP’s workers are nowhere on the ground,” said Sachdeva. Hitting out at the new excise regime in Delhi, he said that liquor vends being opened in residential colonies has not gone down well with the people.
Political analysts, however, feel that the fight might be tough for the BJP this time. Tanvir Aeijaz, associate professor, political science, Ramjas College, Delhi University, said, “The AAP has offered public services to people in Chandigarh and has done the same in Delhi, which is their USP. Also, it established BJP’s long-standing anti-incumbency as an issue. What they lack is the grasp BJP has on caste and community voting patterns. BJP, at present, is gauging the maneuvers AAP is doing and it would try to polarise the votes as it works for them. Still, the BJP may not have it too easy this time,” he said.