War of words escalates ahead of Delhi assembly polls

New Delhi: As Delhi’s 70 assembly constituencies prepare to go for polls on February 8 in a three-cornered political battle between Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress, the stakes are infinitely higher for the ruling AAP for this is the only place where it is in power.

With ‘Achhe beete paanch saal, lage raho Kejriwal’ (five good years have gone by, keep it up Kejriwal) tagline, AAP is attempting to regain the lost ground after it received a massive drubbing in the 2019 national election. In Delhi, the party was relegated to the third position in terms of vote share.

While it is trying hard to retain power through intensified campaigning, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to topple Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s party and compete with a desperate Congress trying to make a mark.

As the date of polling is inching closer, the war of words between AAP and the BJP has escalated.

The election has turned into a high-profile battle with Prime Minister Narendra Modi coming out vociferously against AAP convener Kejriwal, and some of the federal ministers dubbing the chief minister as “terrorist” for supporting protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The BJP leader Parvesh Verma accused Kejriwal of trying to incite riots in Delhi.

“I am calling Kejriwal a terrorist because he is giving guns to the people of Delhi. He is making AAP workers shoot by giving them money. It is very shameful. They have stooped to the lowest level in politics during this election. I am urging people to vote for development. But AAP wants riots in Delhi,” Verma told Gulf News, referring to the latest incident of shooting during an anti-CAA sit-in protest in Shaheen Bagh.

Raising the campaign pitch, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, on the other hand, challenged the BJP to compare the work done by the AAP government in Delhi with that of the performance of the BJP-ruled states.

“I openly challenge BJP to compare the work they have done in the municipal schools here or the education sector or any other sector in any of the states ruled by them with that of the AAP government in Delhi. Development is never on the agenda of BJP,” he said.

Slamming the BJP, said the contentious CAA was not what the country needed, and that it should focus on ways to improve the quality of education and stepping up employment rates.

“The BJP should not divide people by bringing in controversial legislations such as CAA. They should rather devise strategies to improve education and employment scenario in the states ruled by them. In Delhi, people are happy with the performance of our government and that should be a lesson for BJP,” Sisodia added.

Meanwhile, as Delhi goes to the polls, the challenges before all parties include providing better sanitation, cleaner water, affordable housing, improved road network, and cheaper public transportation.

Besides, with December 16, 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape case still afresh in the memory of Delhiites, women’s safety is a prime issue. High levels of air pollution throughout the year remains another big worry for the residents of Delhi.

“The issues are more or less the same for all parties to deal with. But women’s safety is a core issue. Security while moving on city roads not just at night but even during the day is a matter of key concern, therefore, people need representatives who can assure the same,” political analyst Neelam Sharma told Gulf News.

With latest slogan ‘Desh badla hai, ab dilli badlenge’ (we changed the country, now we will change Delhi), the BJP is attempting to make a comeback in Delhi after 1998.

“In 2015 Delhi election, AAP, which was born out of an anti-corruption movement, swept to power winning 67 out of 70 seats. But the party suffered a reverse in municipal elections held of 2017. The AAP must regain the ground lost to the BJP in order to make a mark now. Besides, the BJP needs to really work hard because it has failed to form government in Delhi after 1998. It is a chance for BJP to take revenge for the humiliation of 2015,” political commentator Avtar Negi told Gulf News.

Significantly, the BJP’s age-old ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is not contesting along with the saffron party this time. The BJP instead had to rope in Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Janata Dal (United).

In a show of strength, the BJP conducted a mega contact programme with its key leaders including Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, party head JP Nadda and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visiting all 70 constituencies in the national capital.

Congress, which ruled the national capital for three consecutive terms from 1998 to 2013, has for the first time gone for an alliance with another party — Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) — in a Delhi election.

With its slogan “Congress wali Dilli” (Back to Congress in Delhi), the grand old party is expected to do well in areas where protests against the CAA are intense.

The open and clear stand by Congress leaders such as Salman Khurshid and Mani Shankar Aiyar against CAA and vocal support to protesters is likely to turn into a sizeable vote share for the party in minority-dominated areas.

“Kejriwal’s failure to take a direct stand on CAA has also sent a wrong signal to the Muslim community. Seeing an opportunity in that, Congress sent out a number of its leaders to support protesters at Shaheen Bagh and Jamia Milia Islamia University,” Negi added.

Congress is also hard-selling achievements of three successive Sheila Dikshit governments. But the ruling AAP seems confident of a pro-incumbency wave in Delhi. The chief minister is aware of the people’s open voice admiration for AAP government’s work in spheres of health, education and basic amenities.

Impressively, as far as the nitty-gritty of the election are concerned, Chief Electoral Officer Ranbir Singh, told Gulf News that the polls are completely tech-enabled this time.

The Election Commission has uploaded the entire voter list online. The poll officials will scan the pre-printed voter slips containing QR-code to mark the attendance of the voters at the polling booths.

“Also Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools will be used to forecast the length of queues at different polling stations in the capital. The voter traffic will be predicted through the newly launched Voter Helpline Mobile app. This will help voters in deciding the best time to go to the polling booths to cast their votes,” Singh said.

The assembly election will be held on February 8 and the results will be announced on February 11.

Out of 672 candidates contesting this time, 243 are millionaires. The average assets per candidate is Rs43.4 million, a report by election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has revealed.

Congress has the richest candidates. Of 66 candidates fielded by the grand old party, 55 are millionaires, followed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) whose 51 candidates out of 70 are millionaires. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 47 millionaire candidates out of a total of 67.

The top four candidates with the highest declared assets belong to AAP — Dharampal Lakra (Mundka seat) having assets over Rs2.92 billion, Pramila Tokas (RK Puram constituency) and Ram Singh Netaji (Badarpur seat) with assets of over Rs800 million each, and Raj Kumar Anand (Patel Nagar seat) with assets of over Rs780 million.

A total of 104 candidates in Delhi legislative assembly elections have declared serious criminal cases against themselves, with the highest from the ruling AAP which has 36 nominees with serious charges.

As per a report by election watchdog ‘Delhi Election Watch’, 51 per cent of AAP’s candidates, which is 36 of 70, are facing criminal charges. BJP’s 17 out of 67 candidates have criminal records whereas Congress’ 10 out of 66 candidates have serious charges against them.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has the highest number of criminal cases — 13. The ruling party said the criminal cases against its candidates were an outcome of political vendetta.

A total of 79 women candidates are contesting the February 8 Delhi assembly election. This time there are 13 more women candidates in the fray than in the 2015 election.

The ruling AAP has fielded nine women candidates out of 70, the BJP has six women out of its 67 nominees, and Congress has 10 women of its 66 candidates.

Besides, as many as 17 Independent candidates fighting the election are women.

Out of the 672 candidates in the fray, only 298 (44 per cent) are graduates or above. As many as 16 candidates are illiterate whereas 11 have doctorate degrees.

In their affidavits to Delhi Election Commission, 340 candidates have declared their educational qualification as being Class 5-12, while 12 candidates are diploma holders and six have written just “literate”.

Massive resources have been deployed by Election Commission to conduct free and fair elections. The Commission would spend nearly Rs700 million to conduct the single-phase Delhi assembly election.

More than 100,000 polling officers and staff would be looking after the entire electioneering process. There are 13,750 polling stations in 2,689 locations of Delhi, with more than 3,500 critical or sensitive booths identified this time for live webcasting.

For security, 190 companies of the paramilitary force, 3,800 personnel of Delhi Police and 19,000 of Home guards would be deployed.

Several new initiatives have been taken by Election Commission to attract more voters at the polling stations.

A total of 70 Model Polling Stations, one in each constituency, are being set up and all booths in these polling stations would have facilities such as medical kit, ramp, wheelchairs, creche, and pick up and drop for the elderly.

Mobile phones are not allowed inside the polling stations. However, voters who wish to carry their digital photo voter slip, in Voter Helpline app, instead of a printed copy will be allowed to carry their mobile phones inside the booth.