How Arvind Kejriwal's AAP won MCD elections despite tough fight from BJP

Despite a neck-and-neck contest with Bharatiya Janata Party, Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party won a decisive victory in the Delhi Municipal Corporation elections. The AAP has comfortably passed the halfway mark. The latest trend indicates that the gap between the AAP and the BJP exceeds 30 seats.

Since its inception, Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party has never held the reins of power in the MCD. The Bharatiya Janata Party has controlled Delhi’s MCDs for the last 15 years. Previously, there were three MCDs. However, this year, the Central government introduced a bill to merge the three municipal corporations. The MCDs were previously united under Sheila Dikshit, the then-Congress chief minister of Delhi, but for electoral gains, the Congress party trifurcated the MCDs without much consideration.

For the MCD elections, the Aam Aadmi Party launched its oppositional campaign against the BJP much earlier. The party was aware that Delhi voters have peculiar voting habits. The Aam Aadmi Party was defeated in the Lok Sabha and MCD elections by the same voters who supported it in the assembly elections. In light of this development, the party launched its campaign much earlier. The MCD elections, however, are very much local, and the AAP was successful for several micro and macro reasons.

Anti-incumbency

One of the main factors in the AAP’s victory over the BJP was anti-incumbency. The BJP controlled the MCD for the last 15 years. Local residents were dissatisfied with the work that the BJP had accomplished in recent years. Delhi’s problems grew worse after the Covid 19 pandemic struck, and the populace felt that something needed to change. On the other hand, the Aam Aadmi Party pushed for development by utilizing this sense of the people. The development work carried out by the Arvind Kejriwal administration was visible to the Delhi population, which benefited the AAP.

Sources within the BJP claim that the party realized there was anti-incumbency, which is why the central leadership of the party took over control of the election campaigning. The BJP, however, was unable to counter the Kejriwal model of governance with a compelling story of progress. The BJP sources have confirmed that the party suffered on the local level as a result of their party’s singular focus on criticizing the Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal on more significant issues without offering a development model.

Fund Crunch and Covid-19

Several Aam Aadmi Party leaders think that the MCDs’ poor management of the Covid pandemic was a major contributing factor in their stunning victory. The MCD employees protested in the streets for several months during the pandemic, demanding their unpaid salaries. The Aam Aadmi Party was able to support the workers by joining the demonstrations. After the court’s intervention in the case of the North MCD.

The Kejriwal-led administration was accused by the Bharatiya Janata Party of withholding funding from the MCD. Amit Shah, the home minister, made a similar claim in front of the parliament. The employees were already in a tense state when the BJP made the decision to merge the three MCDs in order to alleviate the financial crisis.

The city’s Covid management had been impacted by the ongoing protests of MCD employees like the Safai Karamcharis, nurses from MCD hospitals, doctors, and other medical personnel. Due to the Safai Karamcharis’ ongoing protest, Delhi saw weeks where no garbage was cleared. These problems hurt the BJP and made room for the AAP.

Sanitation, landfills, and garbage removal

The Bharatiya Janata Party was portrayed negatively by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party over issues like garbage removal, landfills, and sanitation projects. Garbage removal in Delhi has been a major problem both before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though the BJP repeatedly pledged to improve this system, little actually changed.

Similar feelings of unhappiness and concern existed among Delhi residents in the case of landfills. During the winter, the city experiences severe pollution problems, and landfills and uncontrolled fires seriously damage the health of the neighbourhood’s residents. Arvind Kejriwal effectively used the argument that the Bharatiya Janata Party has failed to eliminate the landfill issue and that if he becomes the leader of MCD, everything will change and Delhi’s landfill issue will be resolved.

Similar to this, Delhi’s sanitation issues—mostly in illegal colonies—have been a major concern. On this matter as well, the BJP has just maintained the status quo. The Aam Aadmi Party contributed to this narrative by introducing a number of development projects for the illegal colonies. The AAP government worked to install sewage lines in many locations, helping the locals and restoring their hope.

Corruption Vs Corruption

Corruption allegations against BJP council members have repeatedly surfaced. Manoj Tiwari, the then-president of the Delhi BJP, acknowledged the corruption problems before the 2017 MCD elections and pledged to replace all the council members. In actuality, however, not much was altered. The BJP-ruled MCD was the target of the Aam Aadmi Party’s persuasive corruption narrative.

The Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal concentrated on these alleged corruption problems. The BJP-ruled MCD was accused of widespread corruption during their rule, according to the party’s persistent door-to-door campaigning.

In the meantime, the BJP remained silent regarding these matters. They attacked Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party with accusations of corruption rather than presenting themselves as being free from corruption. The central agencies detained AAP minister Satyendar Jain, and AAP communication coordinator Vijay Nair, and allegedly involved Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in excise policy fraud in recent months. Every other day leaked videos of jailed minister Jain getting VVIP treatment appeared. But these did not make much difference on the ground.

While the narrative against the AAP has fallen flat in Delhi and further analysis of the causes is required, Kejriwal has benefited from the Aam Aadmi Party’s accusations of corruption against BJP council members.

Double-engine pitch

Arvind Kejriwal used the Bharat Janata Party’s double-engine campaign strategy for the Delhi MCD elections. State after state has been won by the Bharatiya Janata Party using the double engine government campaign strategy. Since 2013, Kejriwal has been in charge of the Delhi government. Arvind Kejriwal’s model of government for Delhi is based on a number of freebies as well as improvements to water, power, healthcare, education, and other sectors.

Arvind Kejriwal successfully argued during the MCD campaign that if the Aam Aadmi Party wins the MCD, the Delhi government and the MCD will collaborate on Delhi’s development. The Delhi residents have responded favourably to this idea.

The BJP, on the other hand, has not been able to significantly address this. The Delhi municipal corporations are reliant on the Delhi government, but they have few ties to the federal government. Because of this, despite being in charge of the national government. The Center had limited options for the MCDs because of constitutional restrictions. Political analysts believe that the Center unified the MCDs to dispel this idea, but it did not make a significant impact.

RWAs And Business Community

Arvind Kejriwal concentrated on the business community and Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWA) during the MCD election campaign. The Arvind Kejriwal administration’s freebies have had a direct impact on the lower, middle, and economically disadvantaged classes in Delhi. On the other hand, the party stated that they would designate the RWAs as mini-councillors if they were to win the MCD. This is a significant announcement, and Delhi’s middle and upper classes are centred on RWAs. Political analysts and BJP and Aam Aadmi Party leaders concur that the AAP benefited from this announcement.

Similarly to this, Delhi’s business community is directly impacted by municipal corporations. Arvind Kejriwal prioritized regular communication with the business community during the MCD campaigns and earlier. The Aam Aadmi Party has also pledged to bring about a number of improvements for the neighbourhood, and the party’s victory demonstrates the support of the business community.

Support from women voters

The Aam Aadmi Party, and specifically Arvind Kejriwal, enjoy enormous support from Delhi’s female voters. The Delhi government has taken a number of initiatives aimed at women. For instance, the installation of CCTV cameras everywhere and the free bus service for women, among many other things. Similar to how free welfare programs like free electricity, water, and other benefits directly affect women’s lives, numerous economic analyses have demonstrated this. This resounding victory for the Aam Aadmi Party also suggests that women who had previously supported the BJP have now switched their allegiance to Arvind Kejriwal.

Growing popularity of Arvind Kejriwal

The Gujarat Assembly elections and the MCD elections both took place at the same time this year. Arvind Kejriwal made sure to campaign in Delhi as well, despite his massive Gujarat campaign. During the final few days of the MCD campaign, Kejriwal took the initiative and ran the show.

The Aam Aadmi Party has benefited politically as a result of its historic victory in Punjab and the hype surrounding its entry into Gujarat. The lack of a trustworthy leader is one of the main problems facing the Delhi branch of the BJP. Despite the fact that the central leadership oversaw the MCD campaign, they fell short of Kejriwal’s level of support in Delhi.

The author is a columnist and doctoral research scholar in media and politics. He tweets @sayantan_gh. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.

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