Buoyed by Chandigarh civic poll success, AAP hopes to replicate win in Delhi

Senior leaders of the party said that advertising the Chandigarh results in the national capital, using banners, posters, and hoardings, has already begun. One such hoarding, installed by Leader of Opposition in the South MCD Prem Chauhan, sports the slogan ‘Chandigarh me Bhajpa (BJP) haari Ab Dilli ki Bari’.

AAP MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak said the Chandigarh result is significant because “the message was clear that people wanted AAP to rule the civic body”.

He said, “We are a new party so some people may be confused if we would be able to get a proper majority… But now it is clear after Chandigarh that the AAP fights elections to win.”

Drawing parallels with the two cities, a senior AAP leader said both Chandigarh and Delhi are Union Territories and multi-cultural in nature, which “helps the party as it does not have any particular cultural, linguistic and regional association”.

He claimed that the issues that went against the BJP in Chandigarh were increased water charges, sewerage, parking lot rates as well as anti-incumbency: “In Delhi too, anti-incumbency is a major issue for the BJP, along with corruption in MCDs — the AAP hopes this will turn the tide in its favour. We also have a stronger base in the capital than in Chandigarh.”

This message was also evident in Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s digital address to volunteers last week, where he said, “Go among the people to tell them how we have transformed schools, hospitals, roads, electricity and water supply; convince them that the AAP will implement the same radical changes when elected in their state.”

Hitting out at the AAP, BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said it must come clear on who it paid for the hoardings set up across South Delhi by its civic body leader.

The BJP has been ruling all three corporations in Delhi since 2012. It had swept the 2017 civic body elections, winning 181 out of 270 wards, while AAP came second.