NEW DELHI: The AAP registered a resounding victory in the MCD election on Wednesday. AAP led by Arvind Kejriwal won 134 of the total 250 seats, ending the BJP’s three-year reign at the helm of the corporation.
The latest victory has enabled AAP to have greater administrative control over city affairs. While the party has been steadily increasing its electoral mandate since its inception, a number of other factors contributed to its victory.
Campaigns on civic issues
While, the BJP focused on attacks on party leaders based on investigations by central agencies, the AAP chose to launch an aggressive campaign against three garbage mounds and BJP’s failure to flatten them. AAP also launched another campaign, ‘Aap ka Vidhyak, Aap ka Parshad’ which struck a chord with its traditional voters in the middle and lower middle classes, besides slums.
The voters resonated with the issues such as poor civic amenities like garbage, sanitation, poor roads, and potholes. Many complained that the MCD had not done much to address these issues.
Congress absent on ground
The shift of the Congress voter base to AAP has been ongoing since it entered the electoral fray. The phenomenon was visible in the results as well. Off the record, Congress workers admitted that Muslim majority areas and slum clusters that previously voted for the grand old party have shifted their support to AAP.
Besides, the campaign by Congress hardly made any dent in the AAP’s campaign. Lack of Congress star campaigners during the election campaign also worked in AAP’s favour.
Lack of leadership in BJP
The lack of leadership in the saffron party’s state unit also paved the way for the AAP to sweep the civic polls. Many senior leaders said that the central leadership is not happy with the captaincy of Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta.