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HomeIndiaDelhi votes tomorrow — here’s how BJP and AAP campaigns stack up

Delhi votes tomorrow — here’s how BJP and AAP campaigns stack up

The 2020 Delhi election was initially being touted as a triangular contest between BJP, AAP and Congress, but slowly turned into a two-way fight. 

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New Delhi: National capital Delhi votes Saturday at the end of a high-octane campaign that witnessed several incendiary speeches and seemed to resemble a national election in scale and tenor.

The Delhi assembly elections are crucial for each player involved — the BJP has been out of power in the national capital since 1998, incumbent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will see it as a survey on its five-year tenure, and the Congress will look to marginally recover in its former stronghold after its 2015 wipe-out.

The 2020 election was initially being touted as a triangular contest between the BJP, the AAP and the Congress, but slowly turned into a two-way fight as the BJP sought to power its campaign with an aggressive attack on the Shaheen Bagh protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act. 

Sources in the BJP said the move came after many in the party received feedback that their campaign was beginning to pick up in light of leaders’ focus on the Shaheen Bagh and Jamia protests.

For the BJP, the election poses added significance as it comes after the party failed to form government in five states within a year — Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, meanwhile, is seeking re-election on the back of its “freebies” and other populist schemes, like free electricity and bus travel (for women). 


Also Read: Why Arvind Kejriwal and AAP are silent on jobs in this year’s Delhi election


Bigshots join the campaign

The AAP conducted 240 roadshows and jansabhas. With drawing-room meetings and public rallies in colonies, the BJP changed its strategy and conducted over 10,000 such events. It also deployed all its bigshots, including PM Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, central ministers, chief ministers of BJP-ruled states and the seven Delhi MPs, on the campaign trail.  

“We changed our strategy completely and experimented with smaller meetings. The idea was to have a dialogue with people and get their feedback,” said Satish Upadhyay, the BJP co-in charge for Delhi elections. 

“Our meetings were as small as drawing-room meetings with a couple of people to those being attended by thousands. At the same time, the bigger traditional rallies were also there that were addressed by PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.” 

The party has not announced a CM candidate and focussed entirely on brand Modi, an issue raised by AAP leaders and Chief Minister Kejriwal. 

The publicity campaign of the party also focussed on the work done by the central government, especially its decision to regularise over 1,700 unauthorised colonies.

The Congress campaign was largely lacklustre, with the party only deploying its top guns on the campaign trail this week.

672 candidates in fray

The AAP made its debut with the 2013 Delhi assembly elections. The BJP had emerged as the single-largest party in the election, winning 32 of Delhi’s 70 seats. But the AAP, which won 28, formed the government with outside support from eight MLAs of the Congress. The government proved short-lived as Kejriwal resigned in 47 days after failing to get support for the Jan Lokpal Bill.

In 2015, the AAP was back in office with a stunning majority, winning 67 seats after a campaign marked by profuse apologies for his resignation.

There are 672 candidates in the fray for 70 assembly seats with over 14.7 million voters, according to the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer’s office.


Also Read: Ahead of Delhi polls, Prashant Bhushan, Kavita Krishnan, others rake up EVM tampering


 

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1 COMMENT

  1. As a purely regional – it would be catty to say municipal – party, AAP is very wisely sticking to the knitting. Asking for a second term on the strength of good work done in the first, which is how it should be in a democracy. 2. The BJP is taking a huge leap of faith in the way it has moulded its campaign. Committing resources on a scale that converts a small state election into a virtual national referendum. All the more dicey since potent issues like Article 370 sank without a trace in Maharashtra and Haryana, the Ram Mandir found no traction in Jharkhand. Whether the good people of Delhi will buy into such a noir campaign centred around CAA and the religious polarisation on which it rests is difficult to judge. 3. Should the results conform to the Times Now survey, the ruling party will have to rework its politics drastically.

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