MCD results could be straws in the wind
With one day to go for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, the three major parties in the fray have put in everything at their disposal to woo the voters. Civic elections generally do not generate such high-profile interest even in the State they are held, let alone in the rest of the country. But the MCD polls are different, and for good reasons too. It will be the first real test of strength of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) since it swept into power in 2015 with a brute majority of 67 (now reduced to 66) out of 70 seats. It comes on the heels of the AAP's embarrassing loss in a Delhi Assembly seat through by-election (it had held the constituency but this time its candidate lost the deposit) and defeats in the Punjab and Goa Assembly elections — both of which it had expected to win or at least put up a good performance. There is no doubt that the Arvind Kejriwal magic has waned in Delhi, and the MCD poll is the contest for the Delhi Chief Minister to prove this claim wrong. The AAP has a wide support and organisation base in the city-State. The civic election is important for the BJP which is on the upswing after its stunning victory in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and success in forming Governments in Goa and Manipur despite not being the single largest party. The Rajouri Garden (Delhi) by-poll win boosted its morale, and the arrival of senior Congress leader Arvinder Singh lovely along with a clutch of others from rival camps into the BJP added momentum to the party’s campaign and image. Not only is the BJP keen to retain power in the MCD, it hopes to avenge the 2015 Assembly election defeat as well. The BJP is of course looking beyond the MCD election, and waiting for more stalwarts from opposition parties to join it in time to come.
The Congress is by many accounts the worst placed. Not only has it lost lovely to the BJP, there are other senior leaders such as AK Walia who are deeply upset with the state of affairs in the party. One of the Congress's high-profile members in Delhi, Barkha Shukla Singh, quit as chief of the party's women's wing, accusing vice president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief Ajay Maken of being hypocritical. Her remark that Rahul Gandhi was “unfit” to lead the Congress expectedly drew a sharp response from the party, controlled by a family; she was expelled. Where she heads to, is besides the point. The fact remains that the Congress has been scoring one self-goal after the other. Its hopes of a revival depends on its performance in the MCD elections.
Meanwhile, all three parties must realise the pathetic state of civic conditions in the national capital. Corruption and inefficiency have been rampant, and even BJP leaders admit that a surgery needs to be done to tackle the multiple diseases. That the party has given many tickets to newcomers, should help clean up the mess — if the people give it another chance.