Jubilee Post News & Views
Vivek Avasthi
The counting of votes started at 8am with postal ballots and since then, the verdict of Delhi was written on the walls. The voter of ‘Dilwaalon Ki Dilli’ of ‘Dildaaron Ki Dilli’, clearly dismissed the narrative of politics of hate and division of the BJP for the elections of Mini India.
As the EVMs opened post 9am, the hopes of the BJP started fading with Saffron Party leading at the maximum number anytime in the day – 24 odd seats. And this number saw a decline soon and at around 2pm, the party ruling the country, receded to a single digit figure to end with just eight seats out of 70.
The eight seats on which BJP won/leading are Laxmi Nagar, Vishwas Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Rohtash Nagar, Ghonda, Karawal Nagar, Rohini and Badarpur. Former AAP leader and now BJPs motormouth Kapil Mishra from Model Town and Tejinder Pal Bagga from Hari Nagar, were amongst the big names of the party who lost. Another AAP turncoat, Alka Lamba who had shifted to Congress, lost from Chandni Chowk.
Delhi BJP President has already taken responsibility of the loss of the party and speculation is rife that he will offer to resign from the post soon.
BJP’s Campaign Went Wrong
The BJP built the narrative of Delhi Elections on issues like Shaheen Bagh, Sharzeel Iman, Pakistan and nationalism. But this not work in the cosmopolitan character of Delhi which has residents from all states and corners of the country. I had repeatedly said in a television news show that “Shaheen Bagh is in Delhi but Delhi is not Shaheen Bagh. Delhi is huge and ranges from Dwarka to Rohini to Lutyens to West Delhi, Trans-Yamuna to Walled City and what not. And Shaheen Bagh is a local issue that would not work for the favour of BJP in Delhi”
The language used by big-wigs of the BJP who said “Desh ke Gaddaron ko—— Maaro—– ko” and “EVM ka Button Itni Zor se Dabana ki Current Shaheen Bagh mein Mahsoos Ho” also failed to make any impact on the voter of Delhi. Clearly, the politics of division between Hindu-Muslim, did not work here. This strategy, could have worked in a state like Uttar Pradesh or Bihar where communal
divide is easy, but definitely, Delhi was not the fit case for this experiment.
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BJPs gain in vote share and seats is the only consolation
In terms of seats, the Aam Aadmi Party suffered a loss of five seats as it won 62 as compared to 67 in 2015 but that is negligible if anti-incumbency of five years is taken into account. Also, its loss is minimal as its vote share of 2015, which stood at 54.3 percent, now stands at 53.7 (At 7pm according to the Election Commission website). This means a loss of just .6 percent which again is negligible.
The BJP which is has won five seats so far and is leading in three seats so far, has managed to get 38.4 percent votes whereas it had 32.2 percent vote share in 2015. This means that it has gained a good six percent votes this time and this has also transformed in a gain of five seats.
But this gain for the BJP in vote share is not AAPs loss. The BJP has clearly eaten out of the pie of Congress and others in terms of vote share. The Congress, which has 9.7 percent of vote share, has slumped to 4.3 percent. And this 5.4 percent of vote share has gone to the BJP.
The performance of Congress party in Delhi continues to be abysmal as not only it has registered a big zero in terms of seats, its vote base is corroding fast. 63 Congress candidates have lost their deposits in these elections.
For Kejriwal and AAP – With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
Peter Parker principle – “With great power comes great responsibility” is the message for Team Kejriwal now. He will have to go beyond issues of Bijli-Paani, Mohalla Clinics and MCD Schools. He will have to work in close coordination and tandem with the central government to improve the infrastructure of Delhi, which saw its last uplift during the regime of late Chief Minister Sheila Dixit during the Commonwealth Games.
The Aam Aadmi Party does not have control over Delhi Police and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) as Delhi does not enjoy full statehood at present. Therefore, for the overall development of Delhi, it would need to work in a congenial atmosphere with the BJP-led central government. It will have to completely shun the route of altercation with the central government and work like a proper political party and not a group of activists. And over the past few months or years, Arvind
Kejriwal has indeed shown that he is a mature enough politician who has left activism far behind!
(The Writer is a Senior Journalist)
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