Delhi: 260,000 members to carry out AAP’s MCD polls plan

AAP Delhi convener and Delhi cabinet minister Gopal Rai said the party will form 13,000 teams and hold public meetings across the city’s 13,000 polling booths from Thursday under the Booth Samvaad campaign

Nearly 260,000 volunteers of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will engage with voters in the national capital for the upcoming municipal elections under two massive reach out campaigns named Booth Samvaad and MCD Badlaav Yatra, the party announced on Wednesday.

Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai along with AAP senior leader Durgesh Pathak at the party office in Rouse Avenue in New Delhi, on Wednesday. (HT)

Municipal elections in Delhi are due to be held in April.

AAP Delhi convener and Delhi cabinet minister Gopal Rai said the party will form 13,000 teams and hold public meetings across the city’s 13,000 polling booths from Thursday under the Booth Samvaad campaign.

“All AAP members, as well as those who wish to campaign for a change in the three municipal corporations (MCDs), will launch a dialogue with the people across 13,000 booths. The dialogues will help pave the way for the ouster of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the MCDs, and to bring the AAP to power in the civic bodies. Both old and new members of the party will be a part of these discussions,” Rai said.

He added that committees will be formed at each booth to identify active members who are willing to volunteer their time until the next MCD elections. “At each booth, a working committee of 20 people will be formed. If there are more active members, they will be assigned different tasks. The committee members will also receive a ‘recruitment letter’,” Rai said.

On March 12 and 13, the AAP will hold ‘MCD Parivartan Yatra’ in all 70 assembly constituencies that will be led by party workers at the assembly level, the MLA concerned and party officials. “Through this yatra, we will mark the beginning of the MCD elections campaign. The party has begun preparations for the upcoming elections. We have received positive response from the public. The dissatisfaction with the BJP’s rule in the three MCDs will form the basis of our success in the campaigns,” Rai said.

The current terms of the three municipal corporations in North, South and East Delhi — with total 272 wards — will expire in April. The BJP has been ruling the three civic copies for the past three terms. In the last MCD polls, held in 2017, the BJP won 181 wards, the AAP won 49, and the Congress got 31 seats.

AAP’s MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak said over the past two-three months, the AAP has been campaigning door-to-door and held about 2,500 ‘mandal sabhas’. “In our membership campaign, about 2 million people joined us in the fight against corruption and injustice. Now, all our ‘karyakartas’ and office bearers will consolidate this force to initiate our Booth Samvaad’ programme. We will meet local residents at every booth, and chalk out a comprehensive plan defeat the BJP in the elections,” he said.