How and Why Delhi Preferred AAP to BJP and Congress

1-     Candidate Criteria

AAP

What they did right - AAP had carefully chosen its candidates giving representation to all sections and communities. They also matured politically and chose winnable candidates.    

What they did wrong – Number of AAP candidates with criminal background, however, increased from last time and it also gave tickets to lot of people who changed sides.  

BJP

What they did right – BJP had thought of making a masterstroke by bringing in Kiran Bedi – a former team Anna member – but that didn’t work.

What they did wrong - For BJP, candidate selection is a huge black spot. Biggest mistake turned out to be making Kiran Bedi CM candidate by ignoring leaders like Dr Harshwardhan and Satish Upadhyay. Giving preference to turncoats like Vinod Kumar Binny, MS Dheer , Krishna Tirath, SC Vatsover own cadre was also a huge mistake as state leaders and cadre got upset.  

Congress

What they did right- Bringing a fresh face in form of Ajay Maken to lead Delhi was a good step.

What went wrong – Huge infighting among leaders including Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh lovely not fighting election was probably also a mistake.   

2. Inner party cooperation

AAP

What they did right – After Lok Sabha rout, AAP had given Arvind Kejriwal free hand for Delhi and that seems to have helped AAP in ironing out disagreements. AAP had formed an election management committee giving leaders specific role.

What they did wrong – Shanti Bhushan’s support to Kiran Bedi was one spoiler.  

BJP

What they did right – BJP President taking control was a step to end infighting and bring everyone together.

What they did wrong – But discontentment over tickets did not stop huge infighting.   

Congress

What they did right – Nothing.

What they did wrong - None in Congress seemed interested in fighting polls.  Infighting in Delhi Congress - between Shelia Dikshit supporters and Congress senior leader Ajay Maken - also a reason for loss.

3. Social media

AAP

What they did right – AAP used all barbs thrown at them like mufflerman and turned them into positive campaigns. A smart social media workforce kept a positive face for AAP in the virtual world.

What went wrong – A section of AAP’s social media workforce or supporters is similar to BJP or Congress trolls.

BJP

What they did right – Huge investment in social media to tackle AAP’s virtual presence.

What they did wrong – Negative social media campaign

Congress

What they did right - Nothing

What they did wrong – Was late in waking up to challenge. Never tried enough or did enough to recuperate from earlier losses.

4. Campaign style

AAP

What they did right – One of the biggest differences between AAP and BJP was campaign style. AAP went all positive offering solutions to problems of Delhiites BJP kept on its focus on attacking Kejriwal. While AAP went to all sections through Delhi dialogue and a detailed manifesto offering solutions, BJP did not offer even a manifesto and even went back on its promises.  

What went wrong- Detailed manifesto also puts a huge responsibility to fulfill a lot of difficult promises like free water and lower power tariff.

BJP

What they did right – BJP went all guns blazing bringing in PM, cabinet ministers, MPs and all star tpower to attract voters.

What they did wrong – However, a negative campaign which was not addressing Delhiites problems backfired. BJP going back on promises like reduction in power tariff, regularization of unauthorized colonies, steps to end water shortage backfired.   

Congress

What they did right – Tried hard to match BJP and AAP through advertisements.

What they did wrong – Too late in waking up to challenge. Central leadership led  by Rahul Gandhi was disinterested and did too little too late.  

5. Party Morale

AAP

What they did right - AAP leadership kept its volunteers close, listened to them, took their ideas in consideration and had regular interaction with them.

What they did wrong – A huge young workforce with them. It will be a challenge for AAP to keep with them for a long time.

BJP

What they did right – Bringing a woman leader with clean image was a good step to boost morale.

What they did wrong – Ignoring party cadre and own leaders over candidates from outside was biggest mistake leading to poor morale of party supporters.

Congress

What they did right – Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi tried best with few rallies to boost party supporters morale.

What they did wrong – Congress has been a divided house. With no interest and support from central leadership, it was always a sinking ship. Party supporters had from months lost hope in it.  

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