Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were voted back to power with a massive mandate in the Delhi Assembly election 2020 as the party won 62 seats in the 70-member House. The party dropped just five seats and less than a percentage point in vote share from its historic 2015 performance.
Despite a bitter campaign that saw big shots, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP managed to win only eight seats, only a 5 more from its 2015 tally. The INC, again failed to open its account — the party’s candidates forfeit their deposits on 63 of the 66 seats contested.The AAP secured 53.57 % of the vote share, while the BJP got 38.5% and the Congress 4.3%.
The loss in Delhi is a setback for Home Minister Amit Shah, who made it his mission to ensure that Mr. Kejriwal was denied a third term in office. BJP tried its best to defame Arvind Kejriwal but Arvind Kejriwal stressed his campaign mainly on the achievements of his government and that did the trick for the AAP.
BJP sources, however, blamed the party’s strategy of not projecting a chief ministerial face against Mr. Kejriwal, not being able to counter the AAP’s power and water subsidy schemes. The “unwarranted comments” against Mr. Kejriwal by senior party leaders like Pravesh Verma and Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, who was among the 200-plus party MPs covering the Capital as part of the BJP’s campaign, is also seen as a reason that backfired. Anurag Thakur and Pravesh Verma were also banned from campaigning for 72 hours for raising derogatory slogan.
Mr. Shah also repeatedly said Delhi’s voters should press the “lotus” button on the electronic voting machine so that the “current” was felt in Shaheen Bagh, where thousands of people are peacefully protesting against the CAA-NRC-NPR regime. Mr. Shah personally addressed 52 public meetings in Delhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke at three public meetings, including one on Ramlila grounds.
For the BJP, the defeat in Delhi comes close on the heels of the loss in Jharkhand, where again the party stressed on CAA-NRC and Ram mandir. In Delhi too, Mr. Shah promised at several public meetings that a Ram temple would be constructed in Ayodhya in four months. It’s evident that what worked for the BJP in the Lok Sabha election did not work for it in Delhi or Jharkhand. The voter, clearly, has different interests and objectives in national and Assembly elections.
The derogatory performance of INC in the Delhi election was also a factor for this major defeat of BJP. A three-cornered contest in Delhi could have helped the BJP, but the Congress did a massive favour to the AAP by not campaigning. Like in 2015, the Congress voter turned out in large numbers for the AAP while the party came second in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll under the leadership of sheila dixit, when the party did active campaign, pushing the AAP to third position.
Mr. Kejriwal only spoke of his work and was going to the people on the basis of his government’s performance. He was critical of Mr. Shah on Delhi’s deteriorating law and order situation but did not directly criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Finally, Mr. Kejriwal emerged out as an effective opposition to the BJP. The reason for AAP’s victory for a third consecutive time is that the party has developed an alternative politics that centrestaged people’s everyday concerns, their hopes and expectations about livelihood and life.
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