Parties pull out all the stops as Delhi civic polls campaigning ends

The election campaign for the MCD polls came to an end on Friday evening, 30 days after the state election commission announced the civic polls, concluding an extended period of electioneering.

The election campaign for the MCD polls came to an end on Friday evening, 30 days after the state election commission announced the civic polls, concluding an extended period of electioneering during which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) deployed the largest number of star campaigners while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) campaign was led by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.

Parties pull out all the stops as MCD campaigning ends

The Congress campaign was largely bereft of star campaigners. The state election commission announced the MCD polls on November 4, a high stakes battle for the three main players: BJP, AAP and Congress. The BJP needs to win the MCD polls as it has been out of power in the Delhi government for over 2.5 decades; the AAP needs to win to get deeper roots in Delhi politics; the Congress has been out of power in both the Delhi government and the MCD and to remain politically relevant it needs something to hang on to.

BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia announced that the BJP will regularise 8 lakh street vendors as well as their weekly markets to give them a dignified life after it comes back in power. In a press conference he further stated that night markets will be set up in a total of 12 zones in Delhi, and special arrangements will be made for women’s markets.

Leader of the opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that the BJP cares about all sections of people while Kejriwal gives only lip service. “During the Corona period, when there was an epidemic-like situation everywhere, the PM provided financial assistance to street vendors by giving ₹10,000 each for livelihoods. Kejriwal also promised ₹20,000 to vendors, but did not provide it to anyone,” Bidhuri stated.

While six BJP CMs (Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Pushkar Singh Dhami, Jairam Thakur, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Manohar Lal Khattar, Pramod Sawant), and over 15 Union ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Hardeep Singh Puri, Anurag Thakur, and Piyush Goyal, held over 100 public meetings for the MCD polls (20-30 a day), CM Kejriwal conducted seven campaigns, including townhalls, though Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann did not join the MCD campaign.

The BJP put together an exhaustive campaign, during which it invited almost all its senior leaders. Home minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath skipped the campaign to focus more on the Gujarat election. PM Narendra Modi, who held one public meeting for the party in the 2017 MCD election, did not hold any this time.

The Congress, which is the third largest party in the MCD, did not see any major campaign by any mass leader, with former Jamshedpur MP Ajoy Kumar and national spokesperson Gaurav Ballabh taking the lead in canvassing.

In the last MCD polls, the BJP was re-elected, the AAP emerged as the main opposition party in all three municipal corporations, and the Congress was in third position.

An AAP leader said because the MCD and Gujarat elections were scheduled simultaneously, a significant portion of the attention of the top leaders was divided between the two.

AAP Delhi convener Gopal Rai said Kejriwal being busy with the Gujarat assembly polls was not an issue for the party. “Since the CM was away, all functionaries and workers of the AAP worked overtime to ensure that the party wins. We have received unprecedented support from all sections of people. BJP has done no work in the MCD even though people gave them 15 years, so people have decided to give us a chance in the MCD on the appeal of CM Arvind Kejriwal,” said Rai, adding that the AAP ran a very intense campaign on the ground in two phases and reached all households.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said there was a huge demand from candidates who sought public meetings by senior party leaders, including CMs and Union ministers. “The corruption, scams and inefficiency of Arvind Kejriwal is so huge that many star campaigners were required to expose it. The BJP leaders effectively managed to expose the AAP government and explain its deep-rooted corruption to the public. The people do not trust Kejriwal because he has done nothing substantial other than some cosmetic things like constructing swimming pools in a few schools while thousands of students continue to study in portacabin type structures where many of the AAP government schools are running,” said Kapoor.

Ajoy Kumar, Congress in-charge of Delhi for MCD polls, said the BJP and AAP had to engage big leaders because they have not done any work. “The BJP had over 30 mayors during the last 10 years. But instead of fielding them, the BJP fielded Rajnath Singh and Union ministers because people were very upset with local BJP leaders. It also applies for the AAP,” Kumar said.

Kumar also added that the Congress carried out a very organised and intensive on-ground campaign for the MCD polls. “Every day over 150 local Congress leaders campaigned, reaching out to each and every household. Since they had done a lot of work during Congress’s tenure in the MCD and Delhi government, people responded very positively to them. There is a strong support for Congress from people and they are fed up with both AAP and BJP,” said Kumar.