Delhi: Assembly elections
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2013-14
Delhi cantonment board elections: 2015
Jan 13 2015
Risha Chitlangia
BJP's strong performance in the Delhi Cantonment Board poll and a sharp decline in Aam Aadmi Party votes is a morale booster for the party ahead of the much more challenging task of winning the assembly polls scheduled for February 7. With BJP-backed candidates winning five out of eight wards, the party is keen to read the result as an indication of polls winds in the capital with Prime Minister Narendra Modi having launched the saffron campaign with a rally on Saturday , a day before polling for the cantonment board.
Though the board election is modest in terms of the electorate and BJP won a seat less than earlier, there are reasons for satisfaction. AAP's failure to revive its fortunes after scoring a blank in the LS election and Congress's relatively better performance plays to BJP's advantage.
The increase in Congress's vote share comes at AAP's expense and the trend augurs well for BJP that would prefer a three-way fight in assembly polls rather than a more direct one-to-one face off with AAP and its convenor Arvind Kejriwal.
The results also indicate that the party continues to en joy middle class support-the can tonment area has a sizable population of this segment while Congress neutralized AAP's impact with Kejriwal's outfit registering a 15% dip in its votes, down to 25% from 40% in the assembly elections. “This has once again proved that BJP is the first choice of Delhiites. The voters of the cantonment board have shown that they do not believe in fractured mandate,“ said Satish Upadhyay , Delhi BJP chief. Though BJP had staged a recovery in the LS election, the results were read as the result of a Modi wave and the party was aware that in 2013 AAP's commando Surender Singh defeated four-time BJP strongman Karan Singh Tanwar by 300-odd votes. AAP finished third in four wards and most of its candidates lost by a large margin.
With the party having tak en a calculated gamble in not projecting a CM candidate in a highly urbanized state, evidence that Modi's appeal with the middle class and “urban“ villages has not waned will increase the confidence levels in the BJP and embolden party chief Amit Shah to adopt a tough yardstick in selecting Assembly candidates.
Despite being routed by AAP and BJP in 2013, Congress managed to retain two wards and pushed AAP to third position. This helps Congress argue that it is the alternate to BJP and that AAP is fading. Congress has got 10,048 votes to AAP's 8,442 votes but the difference helped Congress climb the rankings. BJP, which lost in three wards, finished second in two.
AAP finished third in four wards and most of its candidates lost by a large margin.But AAP members do not see this as reflecting the broader mood in the city . “This doesn't reflect the public mood. This is a small area. Moreover, we are contesting for the first time. We have managed to win in BJP's stronghold,“ said Surender Singh.
The result has revived Congress' hope that it will not be washed out again. “The gap in the vote share between BJP and AAP, and Congress emerging as second shows the ground situation is changing.It is not a two-way contest,“ said Arvinder Singh, DPCC chief.
