Vote that matters beyond Delhi

Vote that matters beyond Delhi

When Delhi heads to the polling booths today, at stake will be far more than the keys to governing India’s capital. For the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), these elections are a referendum of sorts and represent the most fiercely fought polls in the young outfit’s existence. It won a handsome victory in 2020 but then spent the last five years battling corruption charges with virtually its entire frontline leadership behind bars. Other parties have caught up with their signature welfare promises and anti-incumbency sentiment is hurting the party in several seats, prompting the leadership to drop a third of sitting lawmakers. The AAP’s campaign has focussed on its core constituency of poor people and slum dwellers to beat back a fierce challenge from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and underlining the appeal of former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

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New Delhi, Feb 04 (ANI): Polling officials collect election materials before leaving for the polling stations at Atal Adarsh Bengali Balika Vidyalaya on the eve of the Delhi Assembly elections, at Gole Market in New Delhi on Tuesday. (ANI Photo/Jitender Gupta) (Jitender Gupta)

The BJP’s campaign looks unlike any of its previous outings in Delhi. The party has largely steered away from incendiary communal rhetoric and sought to pin the AAP on civic malaise and anti-incumbency. Buoyed by its handsome victories in Haryana and Maharashtra, the party is keen to begin 2025 on a winning note. The formidable electoral machine and financial resources of the party are also being used to hive away support from the AAP; in this case, the tax breaks in the budget and the setting up of the new pay commission might play a key role in wooing the salaried class that is far larger a chunk in Delhi than anywhere else in the country. Reduced to a marginal force, the Congress has run a diffident campaign that has shown energy in spurts. Its impact, if at all, is likely to be limited to a few seats and if the polls turn out to be a tight triangular contest.

For a city-state with a modest electorate, Delhi has always commanded outsized heft on the national stage. This time, too, the polls will have a direct bearing on national politics. This is a key test for the AAP and Kejriwal, who has lost some of his anti-corruption sheen but has pitched the elections as a verdict on his popularity. Any result will influence the workings of the INDIA bloc and AAP’s national ambitions. For the BJP, keeping up the momentum of its assembly elections victory is crucial to maintaining its political capital and capacity to push through big-bang ideological projects. A favourable result will also help paint the sub-par showing in the 2024 general elections as an aberration. Delhi’s voice is set to ring far beyond the Capital.