NEW DELHI: With the two formidable contenders Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) locked in a fierce electoral battle to win the coming Delhi elections, the political atmosphere is heating up. Both parties are eyeing the nearly 25-lakh strong Scheduled Caste vote bank in and around Delhi and are doing their best to woo the community to their side.
While AAP has devised more innovative ways of poll campaigning and, unlike BJP and Congress, already declared candidates for 45 constituencies of the total 70, the BJP is more focused on its campaign strategy. The parties have kicked off door-to-door campaign drive in reserved constituencies and other SC-dominated pockets and slums to bag maximum number of the voters. The Dalit vote becomes important as 12 of the 70 seats are reserved and could be a swing factor in the polls.
BJP plans to start a special membership drive in 45 Dalit colonies. The drive will take place from December 21 to 30 and focus on areas like Gokul Puri (37.59 per cent scheduled caste population), Mangolpuri (34 per cent), Trilokpuri (31 per cent) and Sultan Pur Majra constituency (44.15 per cent).
To ensure that the drive is successful, the BJP has also deployed a battery of SC leaders from outside the state. “This time the target is to win all 12 reserved seats,” said Krishan Pal Dhillor, head of Scheduled Caste Wing, Delhi BJP. He said that in the previous elections, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal had won Dalit support on false promises of free water and electricity, which he failed to fulfil. The community feels betrayed by AAP and will vote for the BJP.
After its success in Haryana and Maharashtra, the BJP has deployed influential Dalit leaders from states such as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan as constituency observers for every reserved seat.
In 2013, AAP had won nine out of 12 reserved seats, but this time the BJP is in no mood to allow AAP to repeat its tally. The Dalit votes, which virtually moved en masse from Congress to AAP, proved to be the swing factor in the last elections. The AAP leadership had promised to provide cheap water and electricity to the Dalit-dominated slums and drew a solid support from these pockets leading its impressive tally in the reserved constituencies. The slums and the SC-dominated pockets have been the stronghold of the AAP since the emergence of the party, which was able to directly connect to the poor and the marginalised.
BJP does not have any strong Dalit leader in the state, which is why it is getting leaders from other states. This was also the reason why despite her controversial remarks, Union minister of state Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti was asked by the party to address nukkad sabhas, to cash in on her image among the backward castes and Poorvanchal people in Delhi.
AAP, however, feels it does not need any Dalit face as it already enjoys the community’s support.