All politicians and activists are working feverishly to spread their freebies and ideologies among Delhi voters as campaigning for the Assembly elections gets underway. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is seeking re-election for a fourth time while BJP is desperately trying to end its political wilderness as it has been out of power since 1998 in the national capital. The third player is the Congress which is also trying to revive its fortune as it consecutively drew blank in the last two assembly elections.
AAP stormed to power on a platform of eradicating corruption, establishing a Lokpal, and improving environment, healthcare, education, and transportation. However, it no longer discusses Lokpal over 10 years later as no one was ever appointed and corruption has reportedly escalated. AAP’s key accomplishments, according to its re-election campaign, are a “revolution” in primary healthcare and education. Delhi government schools are portrayed in its advertising campaign as “world class institutions.”
According to AAP leaders, parents are lining up to transfer their kids from private schools to these ones because they are now so good. The budget for education was raised by the party, from Rs.5,491 crore in 2012-13 to Rs.13,995 crore in 2018-19.
AAP manufactured a huge story of success, but true winners of this lavish PR are the media, event planners, advertising and outdoor firms, and content producers. Interestingly, Congress’s Sheila Dikshit government spent Rs.11.18 crore on advertising in 2012-13. This budget increased to Rs.557 crore in FY 2022-2023 during the AAP government, while its yearly budget increased from Rs.37,000 crore to Rs.77,000 crore within the same period. Thus, the advertising budget increased 50 times while annual budget has nearly doubled! According to Delhi Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena, the ad budget has surpassed Rs.600 crore. This explains why statements are exaggerated, rhetoric is prioritised over facts, and AAP leaders are rarely asked critical questions. Significantly, a reality check is necessary since voters bear the cost of all this.
Several schools in south Delhi, in particular, have been featured in advertisements and showcased to visiting delegations and diplomats due to their advanced amenities and smart classrooms. However, it now seems that these showcases are the exception rather than the rule.
Unfortunately, the pledge to open 500 new government schools and give less fortunate families preference when hiring teachers, non-teaching personnel, and admitting kids has not been fulfilled. Just 63 government schools were established between February 2015 and May 2022, according to an RTI response in 2022.According to a later RTI application Newslaundry submitted in October 2024, the actual number was 39.
They claim Mohalla Clinics have revolutionised the city’s access to reasonably priced primary healthcare. At first, the clinics received a lot of positive publicity, but 10 years after the party first took independent control, Mohalla Clinics have grabbed headlines for extremely negative reasons. False patient registrations are one of the main problems. Surprising irregularities have been found after investigations, including:
- The phone number 9999999999 is listed in more than 3,000 patient records.
- Only 15 cellphone numbers are associated with 999 patients.
Basti Nizamuddin Mohalla Clinic, constructed about two years ago, has never seen the light. Such several cases reported from Muslim majority neighbourhoods.
The much-publicised promise to give each home 40,000 litres of free, pure water each month has turned out to be another sham; the tanker mafia still has the upper hand. Many families complain of excessivewater costs and filthy water. Arvind Kejriwal has now promised to provide clean water to every home and to eliminate exorbitant costs.
Despite these failures, AAP seems to be still on the top in terms of sympathy and favour for the capital’s electorates. It also is facing anti-incumbency in several constituencies because it has ruled Delhi for more than a decade. To ward off this, Kejriwal has cut down the tickets of 22 sitting legislators. Its image of anti-crusader also dented because of Delhi excise policy. Several leaders including Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia were put behind bars by the BJP-led union government.
Since then Kejriwal along with Sisodia and others have been active in their mass contact programmes and public meetings visiting people in every assembly constituency of Delhi.
Kejriwal, however, has been playing a sympathy card by accusing the central BJP government of continuously being vindictive against them and locking them up because they are open, truthful, and proactive in improving Delhi’s schools, expanding access to healthcare, and providing them with freebies in water and power sectors.
AAP leaders are also using recent permission granted by the Union Home Ministry on Delhi LG’s recommendation to start ED legal proceedings against Kejriwal in the midst of the elections as justification for their accusations of vindictiveness against the ruling party.
Political analysts claim that although BJP has focused heavily on Delhi elections, putting all of its effort into defeating Kejriwal in order to win by any means, the party chief JP Nadda’s recent announcement of freebies – even more than AAP’s – clearly shows that BJP is determined to win this time in Delhi, despite the fact that they are still viewed as a back bencher. Despite winning all the seven parliamentary seats since 2014, BJP has not held sway in Delhi since 1998.
Congress, the third major contender in Delhi and the party that has ruled for 15 years under Sheila Dikshit, appears to be making some progress.Interestingly, AAP and Congress are both members of INDIA alliance, but they are engaged in a fierce battle with one another.
Even though BJP is working hard to defeat AAP in Delhi, some opinion polls indicate that AAP is still leading but is only expected to establish a government with 48 to 40 MLAs, while BJP is predicted to win 25 assembly seats and Congress 3-5 seats.
The Anna movement gave rise to AAP in 2013, which won 67 seats by a landslide, while BJP received three and Congress none.In the 2020 elections, AAP ran for all 70 seats and won 62. AAP received 53.57% of votes, BJP received 38.51%, while Congress 4.26%.
As for Muslim vote, which accounts for 13% of total electorate of Delhi, it played a key role in AAP’s unprecedented electoral success. The en masse shift of Muslim support to AAP has made it sweep the two consecutive elections. This time they are wary of AAP, particularly its role during February 2020 riots in North-East Delhi which claimed 53 lives. There were around 22 assembly seats where Muslim vote accounts from 20% to over 65%. However, since 1993 assembly elections, Muslim representation remained stagnant at 5.
This time, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen has fielded two candidates Tahir Hussain from Mustafabad and Shifa-ur-Rehman from Okhla. Both are currently in jail in connection with 2020 Delhi riots cases. AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi said there was not much difference between AAP chief Kejriwal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they were cut from the same cloth.