It is not a full-fledged state and has only 70 Assembly seats but polls in Delhi are keenly watched as it is the centre of the country’s political power and has, many times in the past, served as a pointer to the Lok Sabha polls.
Agency Report
New Delhi: Nearly 12 million citizens of Delhi will vote on Wednesday with heightened expectations of a better quality of life for residents of the national capital. All three main contenders – the Congress, BJP and AAP – have already claimed victory while many pre-poll surveys predict a hung Assembly.
The key question everyone is asking is: Whether 75-year-old Sheila Dikshit, presiding over Delhi’s affairs for an uninterrupted 15 years will get an unprecedented fourth term; or will the vote go this time to her long-term rival, doctor-politician Harsh Vardhan of the BJP or the IIT engineer-turned taxman-turned political wannabe Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal has rewritten the rules of campaigning and has fired the imagination of the young and old alike, becoming the proverbial dark horse in the fray.
Over 11.9 million voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. Of the 810 candidates in the fray, the largest number, 23, are in Burari. Patel Nagar has just four candidates.
The Congress had won 43 seats and polled 40.31 percent votes in the last assembly elections. The BJP had won 23 seats and polled 36.41 percent of the votes while BSP had to settle for two seats and a 14.05 percent vote share.
The run-up to the election of the 70-member assembly saw hectic campaigning by the three parties. Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar were among the leaders who addressed rallies in the capital targeting their communities.
It also saw some interesting twists and turns as the BJP was forced to sort out its leadership tussle in the middle of the campaign while a sting targeted the AAP and the thin attendance at a rally of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi became the focus of much media attention and comment.
The AAP’s extensive and focused grassroots campaign helped the party to make its presence felt and turn it into a real triangular contest.
The fierce campaign saw parties trotting out competitive promises to woo voters — the Congress promising double-decker flyovers, trams and more jobs; the BJP promising to reduce power tariff by 30 percent and increasing the number of subsidised gas cylinders from nine to 12 per family per year; and the AAP also promising to bring down power tariff by 50 percent and providing up to 700 litres of water free to every household. All three parties promise to work for getting full statehood for Delhi.
With the metropolis having earned the dubious tag of “rape capital” and the latent anger in people over the brutal gang rape of a young girl in the capital almost a year ago, the campaign saw a lot of focus on the issue of women’s security. Price rise, corruption and the welfare of migrants also emerged as key issues.
The BJP’s electioneering got a boost with well-attended rallies addressed by the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi who was unsparing in his attacks on the Congress. The party had earlier appointed its former chief Nitin Gadkari in charge of Delhi elections with a view to putting up a cohesive fight. Several BJP veterans including L.K. Advani, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and M. A. Naqvi campaigned to end the party’s 15-year stint out of power in Delhi. The party is contesting the polls in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and the party’s chief ministers including Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Haryana, Vijay Bahuguna of Uttarakhand, Virbhadra Singh of Himachal Pradesh and Oommen Chandy from Kerala were among those who campaigned in the capital. Union ministers Salman Khurshid, Oscar Fernandes, Harish Rawat and Ghulam Nabi Azad also sought votes for the party.
The AAP, launched last November in the aftermath of the agitation for a strong Lokpal bill, sought to run a focused campaign by reaching out to various sections of society, particularly those belonging to the poorer strata. The party was the first to declare its candidates and put in the public domain a list of all its donors. Party leaders leaned heavily on the anti-corruption plank in their speeches.
The electoral contest was also in the news for the large number of “crorepati” candidates and the rise in the percentage of candidates facing criminal charges.
With both Sheila Dikshit and Arvind Kejriwal having filed their nomination from New Delhi, the stage is set for a riveting contest in that constituency. The BJP has put up its former Delhi unit chief Vijender Gupta for the seat to make the contest triangular.
But compared to the last polls, the BSP’s campaign was less visible and got much less play in the media this time.
Delhi polls seen as national trendsetter
By Prashant Sood
New Delhi: The BJP, keen to end its 15-year power drought in the national capital, threw in all its might with the party’s prime ministerial candidate and lead campaigner Narendra Modi holding five rallies in the metropolis. Party sources said that 230 public meetings were held by its leaders in the past 10 days.
With the assembly polls to be followed by the Lok Sabha elections about six months later and a few of its senior leaders apparently interested in contesting from Delhi in the general elections, the BJP has tried not to leave anything to chance.
The party has not tasted success in Assembly polls in Delhi after 1993. The party’s defeat in the Assembly polls of 2004 and 2008 was followed by its failure to form the government at the centre in the subsequent Lok Sabha polls. It also fared poorly in Delhi in the last two general elections.
The Congress poll effort in Delhi was led by incumbent Sheila Dikshit and a victory will put her in the reckoning for an unprecedented fourth term as chief minister. Party chief Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi also addressed rallies in the capital but it is the 75-year-old Dikshit who appeared to be the campaigner-in-chief and principal draw.
A victory in Delhi is crucial for the Congress to balance against its probable loss to the BJP in some other states which have gone to the polls in this round of assembly elections. With a number of surveys having predicted BJP victories in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and a tight race in Chhattisgarh, the Congress is pinning a lot of hopes on winning Delhi.
The debutant AAP has managed to create a splash through its grassroots campaign. Its leader Arvind Kejriwal’s focus on corruption, the scourge of the average citizen, has kept the issue in the spotlight. The AAP has managed to make the contest truly triangular and given the jitters to both the BJP and the Congress.
The elections are crucial for the AAP for its ambitions to expand its political base to other parts of the country. A good showing in Delhi will enhance its electoral appeal while a poor showing could dampen the spirits of its growing rank of supporters, particularly the young, the working class and sections of the middle class.
Delhi has the highest per capita income in the country and the metropolis is a virtual melting pot of people from varied ethnic and religious backgrounds. The national capital sees a constant flow of migrants who are drawn by opportunities of livelihood and growth.
Also, with the heavy presence of the media, issues and incidents in Delhi have national resonance. The brutal gang rape of a young woman in the capital last December evoked nationwide protests. Onion prices touching Rs 80 per kg in the weeks before the election received wide attention.
According to commentator Kuldip Nayar, elections in Delhi have wider resonance due to these being perceived as trendsetters. “This being the capital of the country, it has been seen in the past that whosoever wins Delhi generally also forms the government at the centre. That is why Delhi assembly polls become very important,” Nayar said.
He said there was a probability of the elections on Wednesday throwing up a hung Assembly.
Subrata Mukherjee, a political analyst who taught at Delhi University, agrees that Assembly polls in Delhi reflect the possible trends in national elections. “It is also an election that will test the new factor of AAP. The Delhi polls will also symbolise the linkage of local politics with the larger national election next year. The influence of the Modi factor will be evaluated,” he said.
The counting of the ballots cast in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will take place on Dec 8 and in Mizoram on Dec 9.
Delhi polls: Some facts from the past
As 11.9 million voters cast their ballots to choose the fifth assembly of Delhi on Wednesday, a brief look at past polls:
In 1952, Delhi was a C class state whose first Chief Minister was Brahm Prakash from the Congress. It was Gurmukh Nihal who succeeded him in 1955. In 1956, the assembly system was abolished and replaced by the Delhi Metropolitan Council in 1966.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the first assembly elections in Delhi in 1993 after Delhi became a state.
In 1993, the BJP swept the polls with 49 seats. The Congress won 14 seats while the remaining three were bagged by three independent candidates. A total of 61.75 percent of the electorate voted for 70 seats. Madan Lal Khurana became the chief minister. In its five-year tenure, the party saw three chief ministers, the other two being Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj.
It was Congress’ turn in 1998 when it trounced the incumbent party by winning a whopping 52 seats in the 70-member assembly. The party chose Sheila Dikshit as Delhi’s chief minister. The BJP was reduced to 15 seats, the Janata Dal won one seat while independent candidates bagged two seats. The BJP has not been able to wrest power since then.
In 2003, the BJP raised its tally to 20 from 15 seats but it was Congress which formed the government once again under the leadership of Dikshit who became the chief minister again. A total of 53.42 percentage of voters cast their ballots.
In 2008, the BJP was whipped for the third time in a row by the Congress and Sheila Dikshit became the first three-time woman chief minister in India. The Congress bagged 43 seats while the BJP stood second with 23. A total of 57.58 percent polling was recorded. (IANS)