New Delhi: It was a rout of unprecedented scale. A party which romped home with a big majority in the Lok Sabha elections just about 10 months ago and then went on to form government in three other states has been badly mauled in Delhi Assembly elections and barely won just three out of the 70 seats making it ineligible even for the Leader of Opposition post.
In a stunning result, the high flying Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was brought down to earth with a huge thud by a party and leader almost written off by all its rivals and poll pundits. Even after putting all its might to win Delhi, BJP failed to even put up a modicum of fight against Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party which virtually made a clean sweep winning 67 seats.
Constituency after constituency in Delhi saw AAP candidates crossing the finish line with a lot to spare and the rivals licking their wounds. Even BJP CM candidate and India's first woman IPS officer Kiran Bedi, brought into the party with much fanfare, failed to retain a seat represented by Union Minister Harsh Vardhan since 1993 and considered to be the party's safest.
Even in the 2013 elections Harsh Vardhan with 69,222 votes had defeated his nearest rival from the Congress, Vinod Kumar Monga, by a huge margin of 43,150 with AAP's Ishrat Ali Ansari getting just 17,498 votes. Harsh Vardhan had the support of 58.33 per cent electorate which clearly indicated the seat was a BJP bastion.
But as the AAP broom swept through Delhi, Bedi also failed to ensure a BJP win losing to AAP's SK Bagga by 2,277 votes which reflected the pitiable performance of her party in Delhi.
Bedi secured 63,642 votes which are much less than what Harsh Vardhan secured in 2013 even though his then rival Monga is with the BJP now and the number of people who pressed the EVM buttons increased from 1,18,664 to 1,37,365.
BJP has divided Delhi into 14 districts with each headed by a senior leader. But all district heads were changed a couple of months back leading to rebellion within the party. A senior BJP leader told IBNLive that three ward heads in Krishna Nagar constituency were changed just a few weeks ago. These wards are Krishna Nagar, Anarkali and Geeta Colony and the new people failed to connect with the voters effectively.
He said the campaign was poorly managed with many Delhi BJP leaders not getting the importance. Delhi BJP President Satish Upadhyay and Union Minister Harsh Vardhan should have got more prominence during campaign as they know the pulse of Delhi voters better, he added.
Some leaders were also against Bedi and allegedly sabotaged her campaign. While Bedi's arrogance ruffled the feathers of many, she failed to counter Bagga's campaign effectively. Bagga being a local and from the Punjabi community which dominates Krishna Nagar had been working hard in the area for the last several years which paid off in the elections.
In more damming revelation, he also said that many BJP booth management teams across Delhi had several fake names. Giving an example he pointed out that there are 184 booths in Krishna Nagar and each booth was under one panna pramukh who had a team of about 10 people. But many teams had a couple of fake names.
Similar situation existed in all the 70 seats. While AAP managed to ensure its voters came out and also convinced those not with the party in last elections to back its candidates, BJP failed to hold on to its supporters leading in the earth shattering loss.
Bedi and several other prominent names were parachuted into the BJP which alienated many old timers in many seats which resulted in many local BJP leaders not campaigning effectively.
Some BJP leaders went into hibernation as Bedi's dictatorial attitude and poor oratorical hit the party hard. Booth managers in constituencies were changed without consulting the local leadership and new faces given the charge just a week before voting, leaving them almost no time to connect with the voters which resulted in poor mobilisation.
Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh is the spiritual fountainhead of BJP and closely micromanages the party's election campaign. But in Delhi even RSS cadre was sidelined and disillusioned by the confusing campaign strategy and Bedi's aloof persona.
AAP had the head start over its rival even though it had got a lot of bad press after Kejriwal's 49-day government, known more for protests and dharnas, quit in a jiffy and decided to plunge into national politics with the Lok Sabha elections.
After the loss in Lok Sabha elections, AAP leaders and volunteers sobered down and returned to Delhi. A long process of churning followed after which the AAP leadership decided to stick to Delhi and convince the national capital's voters about the party's programmes and policies which started with Kejriwal seeking apology for quitting the government. AAP started its campaign about three months before election dates were announced while the BJP leadership was still struggling to set the Delhi unit in order.
All these combined to project BJP as a party which had no vision for Delhi and was instead relying on the Modi charisma to bail it out. AAP went in for the kill and the results say it all.
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