New Delhi: The AAP appears to have pulled off a prestige triumph by ousting the BJP from Delhi’s civic council in an election that was closer than anticipated. Here are the key takeaways from this significant story:
- With 126 seats, the AAP has gained a majority in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and defeated the firmly established BJP. It is ahead on 10 more, bringing its total number to 136. The 1.30pm report shows that the BJP has so far won 97 seats. It is gaining ground and may soon surpass 100, which would be a respectable showing after 15 years of uninterrupted control over the civic body. Seven seats have been gained by Congress, while three more are in contention.
2. Four exit polls taken together saw AAP winning in 155 wards, 84 seats for the BJP, and seven for the Congress. The BJP had won the most recent MCD elections in 2017, taking 181 of the 272 seats; AAP came in second place with 48 seats, while Congress came in third with 30.
3. Arvind Kejriwal costumed children and a dhol band played at the AAP office during the large festivities. Since the morning, the office had kept balloons and celebratory posters on hand.
4. As the counting revealed a contest that was much closer than the AAP sweep predicted by exit polls, AAP leaders had gathered in a huddle. Raghav Chadha and Manish Sisodia hurried to AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal’s home. Bhagwant Mann, the chief minister of Punjab, joined them.
5. Despite not having constituted the Delhi state government in the previous 24 years, the BJP’s hold over MCD remained solid during Congress and AAP administrations. Even though the AAP won a record 67 out of 70 seats in the 2015 assembly elections, the BJP still held over the MCD two years later.
6. Both the AAP and the BJP, which now have power over various aspects of Delhi’s administration through the state and federal governments, regarded this as a contest for prestige.
7. These were the first municipal elections since the MCD, which had been split into three about ten years prior in terms of area, had been reunified and the wards redrew after the most recent term of the BJP came to an end in early this year. The competition had more than 1,300 contestants.
8. The BJP went all-out throughout the campaign, as it normally does, to persuade PM Narendra Modi to give over the keys to certain slum rehab apartments. Both chief ministers and union ministers were sent out. Local leaders played a minor role for both major parties.
9. 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.
10. In addition to pressing corruption charges against several AAP ministers, the BJP made housing promises. These were employed by the Congress to disparage the AAP. However, Mr. Kejriwal asserted that ‘bogus charges’ and ‘misuse of central agencies’ won’t derail his ‘shaandaar’ (glory) work as chief minister.
The Congress had lost more ground despite hoping to gain some small pockets of influence. After a decline started in 2014 and Sheila Dikshit passed away in 2019, Delhi is still rebuilding. Civic body elections weren’t high on the party’s priority list because of its focus on macro-politics of ideology, as seen in Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ that is currently taking place in Rajasthan.
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