As voters swarm the polling places on Sunday to exercise their right to vote in the elections for the 250 wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the stage is set for the high stakes civic elections, which are primarily considered as a three-way race between the BJP, the AAP, and the Congress. A total of 1,349 candidates are running in the civic elections, which have a voter turnout of around 1.45 crore.
Large-scale aggressive campaigns were undertaken by both the AAP and the BJP in the days leading up to the election, which concluded on Sunday. These efforts included multiple roadshows and nukkadsabhas.
1) The stakes in the triangular competition are enormous for all three participants. After winning 48 of 272 wards in 2017, the AAP hopes to sweep the civic elections in a first, while the BJP is vying to keep the MCD. The Congress, which has lost power both at the national and local levels of government, wants to improve its electoral prospects.
2) Despite being the national capital, Delhi is plagued by societal problems. The AAP and the BJP have frequently sparred over the complaints of the populace regarding drainage, roads, and dump sites. Another problem that has been added to the list is air pollution, as the city experiences deteriorating AQI (air quality index) every year as soon as winter arrives.
3) In its 12-point platform for the local elections, the BJP has pledged to abolish trade, health, and industry licences as well as to construct puccahomes for slum people. Another assurance is that the city’s “jan rasois,” or kitchen staffed by women, will provide meals for 5rs.
4) The AAP started preparing in early 2017. “We’ve improved things under the state, now let us take care of sanitation too,” was the pitch that was maintained. The BJP’s identical pitch of “Modi’s double engine” and the AAP’s “Kejriwal’s government, Kejriwal’s corporator” also capitalised on the faces of their main leaders.
5) At the very least, the Congress wants to gain certain areas of influence.After Sheila Dikshitpassed away in 2019, Delhi is still undergoing reconstruction. Civic body elections aren’t high on its priority list because of its focus on macro-politics of ideology, as seen in Rahul Gandhi’s “Bharat Jodo Yatra” that is still taking Place in central India. Definitely not as high as on the lists of the AAP and BJP.
6) Less than three years have passed since anti-Muslim pogrom broke out in Delhi, and anti-minority rhetoric continues to circulate, especially on social media. Given that social media has no geographic boundaries, such rhetoric from Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh also reached Delhi’s Public sphere.
7) The security is crucial because the stakes Are high and the rhetoric is incisive. Nearly 70,000 people in total—40,000 state police, 20,000 Home Guards, and 8,000 or so members of paramilitary and state armed police forces—have been dispatched. Additionally, 60 drone cameras will fly over delicate locations. One of the police’s main priorities is “reducing the possibility of communal flare-ups.”
8) With the AAP and BJP facing off in the vital elections, which are taking place the same week as the crucial Gujarat elections, Several scandals have surfaced.
9) Videos from Tihar taken by imprisoned Delhi minister Satyendar Jain, accusations made against Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the excise policy case by the BJP, and the anticipated reaction are just a few of the issues that have sparked a deadlock between the two parties.
10) The BJP ran a high-profile campaign, urging voters to elect the party to power once more. Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and JyotiradityaScindia, as well as the chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh’s Jai Ram Thakur, Uttarakhand’s Pushkar Singh Dhami, and Madhya Pradesh’s Shivraj Singh Chouhan, were among the leaders urging voters to do so. The AAP’s leaders alternated between Delhi and the two states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh where state elections are taking place, whereas the Congress campaign was uninteresting.
