Winter contest: On the Delhi Assembly elections

The Delhi Assembly elections on February 5 is set to be a bipolar contest between the incumbent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress, once the most popular party in the national capital, is struggling to regain at least part of its lost prominence. Delhi is not a full-fledged State, and its unique and convoluted governance design often sets the Centre and the State government on a collision course. Still, there is national spotlight on Delhi politics, which the AAP and the BJP have dominated since 2012. Since then, the voters in Delhi have swung overwhelmingly in favour of the AAP in Assembly elections and the BJP in Lok Sabha elections. The AAP nurtures national ambitions and its chief, Arvind Kejriwal, fashions himself as a challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the run-up to the elections, the AAP has had its image of incorruptibility and of being a platform for the commoner severely stained by corruption allegations against Mr. Kejriwal and several of his colleagues. It is true that the central investigative agencies are selective in their anti-corruption probe, but that does not absolve AAP of suspicion. The frequent run-ins with the Lieutenant Governor appointed by the Centre have made it difficult for the party to deliver on what it has promised, even as it makes a bid for a fourth term.

The BJP is pitching a double-engine government that will put an end to the tussle between the two powers that control Delhi. The election is likely to bring up issues concerning the integrity of the election process itself. The AAP has submitted to the Election Commission that the names of bona fide voters are being removed from the electoral rolls. When announcing the elections, the Chief Election Commissioner sought to allay these fears saying deletion of names was not possible without adhering to strict protocols, and every party has the right to raise objections at various stages. In response, the BJP has said that the AAP is worried that illegal Rohingya and Bangladeshi immigrants who are benefiting from the party’s welfare schemes will be struck off the list. The results, scheduled to be announced on February 8, will also be a test of the strength, the strategies, and the coherence of the parties ranged against the BJP. While the AAP and the Congress fought the Lok Sabha elections with a seat-sharing agreement as INDIA partners in an attempt to defeat the BJP, they are opposing each other in this fight. For the BJP that considers every election as a life-and-death matter, Delhi is even more so.