MCD polls: AAP to come up with ‘Kejriwal Ki 10 Guarantee’

Sisodia on Wednesday said the guarantees for the MCD will involve issues such as waste management, removal of landfills, problems being faced by the traders, and other issues concerning civic governance.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will announce the list of 10 guarantees on Thursday which will form the basis of its manifesto for the December 4 municipal corporation elections, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia announced on Wednesday after a meeting of top party leaders.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters raise slogans during Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s visit to the Ghazipur landfill on Wednesday. The party will come up with a 10 guarantee campaign on Thursday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

Besides Sisodia, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, party’s MCD incharge Durgesh Pathak and other senior leaders attended Wednesday’s meeting that was held to discuss the preparations for the upcoming elections. The AAP had come up with a similar ‘ten guarantees’ ahead of the 2020 assembly elections.

“AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal will launch AAP’s ‘Kejriwal Ki 10 Guarantee’ campaign for MCD elections tomorrow. The people of Delhi are seeking a government that can rid them of BJP’s maladministration in MCD, and the corruption, garbage mountains and mismanagement in the civic body. Looking at how the public is demanding change in Delhi, their eagerness to break free from the shackles of the BJP, we have made up our minds to go into the elections with full force,” Sisodia said.

BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that the AAP should provide the status of the promises it had made before the last assembly polls. “Before issuing 10 guarantees for MCD polls, Arvind Kejriwal should tell Delhi how many of the 10 guarantees announced ahead of the 2020 assembly polls has been fulfilled by his government,” Kapoor said.

Free 200 units of electricity for all, 24-hour piped drinking water to each household, world-class education for each child in Delhi, cheapest public transport, clean Yamuna and a garbage-free Delhi were among the 10 promises announced by the AAP in 2020.

Elections to the MCD will be held on December 4, and counting of votes will be taken up on December 7, according to the polls schedule announced by the state election commission last week. It’s a high stakes fight for both the AAP and the BJP since MCD is a key component of the city’s governance -- and in areas that touch people every day. The municipal body administers nearly 80% of Delhi’s area providing nearly as many services as the city government.

For the AAP, it will be only be the second outing at the civic polls. Despite achieving unprecedented victories in the 2015 and 2020 assembly elections, the AAP failed to upstage the BJP at MCD. For the BJP, which has ruled for three consecutive terms at the MCD, the polls will be important to maintain its sway in the local political landscape after two back-to-back defeats at the assembly polls.

Sisodia on Wednesday said the guarantees for the MCD will involve issues such as waste management, removal of landfills, problems being faced by the traders, and other issues concerning civic governance.

Sisodia said that the MCD, under the BJP’s rule, has destroyed the city with garbage in every nook and corner of the city. “Parks are in poor state, streets are full of stray animals, traders are harassed and made to pay bribes, no one can construct houses without offering bribe to BJP functionaries, Delhi has mountains of garbage. All these issues were discussed during the meeting along with how the AAP will take forward its election campaign. We discussed in detail what the party plans to do for the common man in Delhi by improving MCD governance. CM Arvind Kejriwal will announce ten guarantees based on these discussions,” the deputy CM said.

Sisodia said that the list of candidates will be decided on the basis of on-ground surveys; and every application will be scrutinised. “We are getting lots of applications seeking candidature in MCD elections. We are conducting surveys to assess every application. All the applications are being dealt with in a very professional manner after which the list of candidates will be announced,” he said.

The party is also expected to launch an “MCD war room” at its headquarters on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg on Thursday. Besides running a booth-level door to door campaign, the AAP has launched a “Koode Par Jansamvad” (dialogue on garbage) drive in which party MLAs and leaders are holding talks with local residents near garbage dumps in localities across the city.