Delhi witnessed unprecedented political mobilisation on Thursday with the main contenders, the BJP and the AAP, holding roadshows and rallies across 70 constituencies and the Congress too trying its best to make its presence felt in the high-stakes poll. The national Capital saw nearly 175 such rallies and roadshows in a single day alone as party leaders and workers took to the streets to leave nothing to chance.
The end of the bitter campaign must have brought relief to Delhiites who faced massive traffic jams due to the nature of the nook-and-cranny campaigning, mainly by the BJP and the AAP. While the BJP mobilised more than 100 MPs, Union Ministers, and leaders from across the country, the AAP relied on thousands of its young volunteers who came from different States to boost its campaign.
The BJP pulled out all the stops on the final day of electioneering with over 70 roadshows covering every nook and cranny of the city. In its final attempt to contain the AAP, BJP president Amit Shah addressed a massive gathering in Okhla where he accused the rival party of lacking “ideology”.
BJP’s chief ministerial nominee Kiran Bedi made her last attempt to reach out to voters as she campaigned in Mangolpuri, Sultanpuri, Kirari, Nangloi, Mundka and her home constituency Krishna Nagar. For the first time, she directly hit out at the AAP convener and her former comrade Arvind Kejriwal by calling him “Bhagoda” (escapist) and compared her 40 years of administrative experience to his “stint” as an IRS officer. later in the day, Shah, along with senior Cabinet Ministers, 120 BJP MPs and senior Delhi BJP leaders held a meeting to review the preparations. These MPs have been assigned the responsibility of micro-managing BJP’s poll preparations.
The growing popularity of the AAP led the BJP to tweak its strategy several times — inducting Kiran Bedi and making her its CM candidate being the biggest one. Having held 321 public meetings from January 24 to February 5, the BJP scored over the AAP and the Congress. This was apart from four rallies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The public meetings were held by around 10 Union Ministers — besides BJP president Amit Shah who alone addressed around 15 rallies — Kiran Bedi, MPs Manoj Tiwari, Shatrughan Sinha and former MP Navjot Singh Sidhu.
The campaign saw several rallies and counter rallies in which lawyers first held an anti-Bedi rally, but on the last day they marched from the Delhi High Court to the Delhi BJP office extending support to the former IPS officer. The BJP also launched a controversial advertisement campaign against the AAP and attacked the Arvind Kejriwal-led party over allegations of receiving black money through dubious sources.
Despite exit polls giving the AAP an upper edge in the elections, the BJP maintained its hold on the battleground which was clearly reflected on the last day with the massive show of strength by its supporters. From bike rallies to clicking “Selfies with Modi” using high-tech augmented virtual image of the Prime Minister and from addressing Jan Sabhas to sending personalised letters to everyone, the party’s campaign was targeted to appeal everyone ---from the youth to senior citizens.
AAP candidates and its senior leaders took to the streets on the last of campaigning. One could sense the confidence that not one but all candidates and leaders were carried on supporters’ shoulders and the continuous cheers emerging from the crowd gave the party a good boost in morale. While party convener Arvind Kejriwal went from one place to another, meeting voters individually within the New Delhi Assembly constituency, senior leader Yogendra Yadav did roadshows in Kalkaji and Timarpur. Other leaders like Sanjay Singh and Kumar Vishwas campaigned in different constituencies. However, every constituency’s candidate carried out a roadshow.
To pack the last brick in the wall, the party went an extra mile to reach out to voters. However, despite the extensive roadshows, it was evident that the AAP didn’t have to struggle to gather crowds for their roadshows.
This election season, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal alone conducted 110 public meetings while senior leaders such as Sanjay Singh, Ashish Khetan, Ashutosh and Punjab MP Bhagwant Mann conducted nearly130 rallies. Even leaders like Kumar Vishwas, Dilip Pandey and Manish Sisodia conducted 90 rallies. Among volunteers, nearly 15,000 plus volunteers joined the AAP in their Delhi campaign from other States.
The campaigning styles of the AAP have definitely changed the way elections were fought in the national Capital. From the conventional public meeting and rhetoric by prominent leaders, the AAP went to doing bike rallies, public events for the youth, presenting street plays for women security and even introduced a new style of flash mobs calling it the ‘Dance for Democracy’. Kejriwal himself did people-to-people campaigns where he met voters in colonies and jhuggies.
The Congress too tried its best to retain whatever lost ground it could regain. According to Congress leaders, over 150 public rallies, nukkad natak and roadshows were held by Congress candidates and its star campaigners in the past few days. Rahul Gandhi held a roadshow in Sultanpur Majra on the last day while Ajay Maken campaigned for Sharmistha Mukherjee in Greater Kailash. Congress MP Harish Rawat and Raaj Babbar campaigned in Okhla and Model Town area. The party has held three elections rallies across the city. One rally was addressed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi rally at Badarpur, while Rahul Gandhi’s rally held at Shastri Park and Jehangirpuri area. Rahul Gandhi also held three road shows in different constituencies that include in Sadar Bazar, Kalkaji and Sultanpuri area during electioneering.
Apart from Gandhi family, the Congress star campaigners include former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Raj Babbar, Khushboo, Subodh Kant Sahay, Namo Narain Meena, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Digvijay Singh, Harish Rawat, Abdul Azizi, Deepender Hooda, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Virbhadra Singh, Captain Amrinder Singh, Sardar Pratap Singh Bajwa, Kamal Nath, Rita Bahuguna, Kapil Sibal, Ambika Soni, Oscar Fernandes, Sheila Dikshit, Salman Khursheed, Gulam Nabi Azad, Kumari Selja and Sandeep Dikshit, who not only addressing public meeting or nukkad meetings but also conducting door to door campaign with party candidates and their family members. Bollywood personalities Khushboo, Mahima Choudhury, John Abraham, Arun Bakshi, Raza Murad, Shakti Kapoor, Daler Mehndi, and Nach Baliye 2014 winners - Pravin and Kiran have campaigned for Congress candidate Raj Kumar Chauhan and Hasan Ahmed.