With Assembly elections in Delhi around the corner, political parties are out to woo autorickshaw drivers, yet again. The AAP, whose convener Arvind Kejriwal met autorickshaw drivers at his home on Monday and visited one of their homes for lunch on Tuesday, has been enlisting the help of these drivers since its first election campaign in 2013. The Delhi unit of the BJP, meanwhile, has also been holding meetings with them. Both parties announced guarantees and assurances for the drivers on Tuesday. The AAP recognises autorickshaw drivers as its core voter base. “The first collective to actually come out and support AAP was autorickshaw drivers. They were instrumental to our campaign both in 2013 and 2015. Till then, no one had really looked at them as a single voter base. Of course, there are several other factors that decide how a person votes, but several of their basic concerns are similar and AAP was the first one to recognise that,” said a senior AAP leader. AAP organisation secretary (Delhi state) Gaurav Singh, who is also in charge of the party’s autorickshaw wing, told The Indian Express that a poster campaign involving drivers has started already. “At present, posters have been put up on 10,000 out of around 1 lakh autorickshaws in the city. We will scale up in the days to come. Right now, our focus is on putting up posters on as many auto rickshaws as possible. Closer to the election, some will also put loudspeakers on the autos like in the previous elections and become part of the campaign actively,” he said. However, there is another way in which the drivers are being roped in. “The idea is to have drivers speak to their passengers about AAP’s policies and work the government has done over the past decade. They are among the biggest beneficiaries of the AAP government’s policies and are fully qualified to speak about them. The core message is talk about AAP’s revdis — free power, water, schooling, healthcare, teerth yatra etc,” he added. On Tuesday, Kejriwal also acknowledged the support given to his party by autorickshaw drivers. “Auto drivers were instrumental in our first victory, and I trust they’ll rally for us again. I still remember, back in 2013, when our party was newly formed and the Congress government was in power in Delhi, auto drivers were accused of not using meters, being rude, and looting passengers. I recall organising a massive gathering of auto drivers at Ramlila Maidan,” he said. Delhi BJP President, Virendra Sachdeva, meanwhile, slammed Kejriwal for “trying to sell dreams” to Delhi’s auto rickshaw drivers. “Kejriwal has deceived them for the last 12 years. He may call them his family, but has done nothing to improve their working conditions,” he said. Here’s what each party is offering Kejriwal’s guarantees: - All auto drivers to get a life insurance cover of Rs 10 lakh and a Rs 5 lakh accident insurance policy - Rs 1 lakh to be given for every auto driver’s daughter’s wedding - Rs 2,500 twice a year for uniforms for all auto drivers — once during Holi and once during Diwali -Coaching fee for competitive exam classes -PoochO App, which allows people to access the DIMTS database of registered drivers’ mobile numbers and call them up to book a ride, to be relaunched BJP’s seven assurances: -Children of all licensed auto drivers will receive free school education, and scholarships will be provided to those wishing to pursue higher education -A special scheme will be introduced for all auto drivers in Delhi, offering life insurance coverage under the Prime Minister’s initiatives starting from September 17, 2025, Narendra Modi’s birthday -Auto drivers without private housing will be provided benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana -Halt-and-Go stands will be established in all colonies and markets for auto drivers, in collaboration with traffic police -Auto drivers will be made an integral part of the last-mile connectivity plan to enhance and secure their livelihoods -Drivers of electric auto-rickshaws will receive monthly electricity recharge subsidies for two years -Committees, including two representatives of auto drivers, will be formed at all auto fitness centres in Delhi to curb corruption
