Small parties try to make large inroads into MCD polls

The BSP will field candidates on all 250 seats, the JD(U) will contest 100 seats and the AIMIM will fight on 40 seats

New Delhi: Besides the three main contenders --- the Aam Aadmi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress -- smaller parties such as Janata Dal (United), All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Swaraj India and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will also be in the race for the 250 wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, elections to which will be held on December 4.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai release the party manifesto ahead of the upcoming MCD polls, during a press conference, in New Delhi on Friday. (PTI)

The BSP will field candidates on all 250 seats, the JD(U) will contest 100 seats and the AIMIM will fight on 40 seats, leaders of the three parties have said. Even though these parties have no established support base or cadre in the national capital, the JD(U) and BSP have fielded candidates in assembly elections earlier too. Shoaib Iqbal won the Matia Mahal assembly seat on a JD(U) ticket in 2013, two BSP had a vote share of 14% in 2008 and won two seats. But since 2013, since the advent of the AAP on Delhi’s political landscape, these regional players have been relegated to the margins.

Laxman Singh, BSP’s Delhi unite chief said the party will contest all 250 seats in the December 4 polls. “In 2017 municipal elections we won three seats. The interests of Dalits and the poor have been ignored by the BJP and the AAP. The areas where Dalits live suffered apathy of the political parties in Delhi. We want to give a better representation to the people,” said Singh.

Singh said that the party officials are currently scrutinising prospective candidates and will soon announce their list. “People are fed up with the BJP, AAP and Congress and are looking for an alternative,” said Singh. BSP had won three seats in the 2017 municipal polls.

JD(U), which has been eyeing Purvanchali voters, has already announced its candidates for nine seats. People from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh are referred to as Purvanchalis.

JD(U) Delhi in-charge and Bihar minister Sanjay Kumar Jha said that the areas where Purvanchalis form a sizeable chunk of the local population have suffered MCD’s apathy. “The JD(U) will take this message to every voter and tell them to give a chance to the JD(U) to give them better civic administration. We will take the message of the development work done under the leadership of chief minister Nitish Kumar in Bihar to the people in Delhi, and appeal to them to vote for JD(U) candidates,” Jha said.

JD(U) has launched a ‘Better Delhi’ campaign ahead of the elections.

The AIMIM, which is targeting Muslim voters, has announced its candidates on four of the total 40 seats that it plans to contest. “We are going to field 40 candidates and all the candidates are going to win. The AAP has backstabbed the Muslim community and the BJP has deprived the Muslim-dominated areas of development and funds. There is a big vacuum in Delhi, which the AIMIM is going to fill in this elections,” Hafeez said.

The Asaduddin Owaisi-led party has fielded candidates in the Muslim-dominated Mustafabad, Abul Fazal Enclave, Sriram Colony and Brijpuri wards.

Prof Tanvir Aeijaz, political analyst and associate professor of Political Science at Ramjas College, said the entry of small political parties make the election outcome highly unpredictable. “The margin of victory in the municipal election is usually very low, and when so many parties get involved the election outcome can swing any way. Such parties tend to draw the attention and votes of a section of people who associate themselves with the states where they are active, such as migrants from Bihar may be interested in the promises and issues raised by the JD(U) and those from Uttar Pradesh may support BSP,” said Aeijaz.