MCD poll win likely to bolster AAP’s expansion plans

The victory in the civic polls will be a major shot in the arm for AAP despite the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s aggressive campaigning

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has crossed the majority mark of 126 with three leads and 131 wins as the counting of votes polled in the December 4 Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) continued. This comes a day ahead of the counting of ballots in Gujarat, where exit polls have predicted AAP may get enough votes to help it become a national party.

AAP candidate from Inder Puri Jyoti Gautam celebrates her win. (PTI)

The victory in the civic polls will be a major shot in the arm for AAP despite the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s aggressive campaigning. At least 15 Union ministers and six chief ministers held hundreds of public meetings for the BJP, which controlled MCD for 15 years, ahead of the polls. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia largely led the AAP campaign as well as canvassed in Gujarat.

AAP’s promises

Kejriwal promised to make Delhi clean and beautiful, end corruption, fix parking issues, address the problem of stray cattle, repair roads, revamp schools under the MCD, etc as part of his 10 guarantees. He also pledged to beautify MCD parks, regularise temporary workers, pay timely salaries, simplify licensing, and to create a conducive atmosphere for trade and vending zones.

The AAP is expected to improve its standing if it lives up to the promises made to Delhi’s 20 million residents.

Challenges

The AAP, which emerged as the second biggest party in place of the Congress in 2017, will pick its mayor and leader of the House, chairman of the standing council, and heads of the deliberative wings with considerable power.

But the Centre exercises executive powers related to land, the police, and public order with respect to Delhi. The AAP government has been at loggerheads with the BJP-led central government over the boundaries of the legislative and administrative powers in the national capital.

A municipal official said the amendment to the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act for the unification of three corporations also replaced the term “government” with the “central government.”

“The MCD comes under the ambit of the Centre and lieutenant governor as an administrator of Delhi. The delimitation process was also supervised by the central government just before the elections,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

Big leap

The AAP has sought to expand its influence nationally since it returned to power in Delhi by winning 62 seats in the 70-member assembly in 2020. It became the first regional party to have governments in two states when it swept to power in Punjab this year. The AAP hopes to make significant inroads into Gujarat. It is expected to contest more polls in 2023 when elections are due in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana.

The win in MCD polls and decent performance in Gujarat will bolster AAP’s position as a serious national alternative and may also draw politicians from other parties and increase donations for the party.

The AAP’s campaign for MCD polls focussed on overflowing garbage and it hopes even a marginal improvement in the situation will bring it rich political dividends in the run-up to the 2024 polls and assembly election a year later.

The MCD with 250 wards was unified with the merger of three municipal corporations this year. Earlier, Delhi had three mayors with separate budgets and curtailed influence due to three municipal corporations. Now the MCD will have one mayor commanding almost three times bigger budget and jurisdiction.

MCD, which is one of the largest civic bodies in the world, has an annual budget of ₹15,200 crore and around 150,000 employees. It is usually the first port of call for Delhi’s residents for registering births, deaths, marriages, trade licences, and permissions, etc.