Delhi elections 2025: The elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly are due in February. The dates of the polls are yet to be announced by the Election Commission of India but all three key parties - Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress already entered the election mode. The ruling party announced all its candidates, while BJP and Congress also started releasing the list of nominees. While AAP is confident of winning a record third time in the national capital, riding on social welfare schemes and freebies, which are termed as rewari by the BJP, the saffron party is hopeful for a change in the national capital, citing recent electoral success in Odisha, Haryana and Maharashtra.
In the view of recent victory in the tough poll battles, especially in Odisha and Haryana, the BJP has a strong ground to be confident that this time the saffron party will be successful in disloding the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government in Delhi. As far as Congress is concerned, the grand old party is seen struggling to cope with infighting in the Delhi unit. The Congress has changed several Delhi party chiefs in the last few years.
BJP's aggressive poll campaign highlighting key issues
The BJP is known for its no-holds-barred aggressive election campaign. In Delhi too, the JP Nadda-led party started an intense poll campaigns, highlighting alleged failures of the government. Senior BJP leader Anurag Thakur on Monday issued a "chargesheet" against AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of turning Delhi into a "corruption lab" through a series of "scams". Thakur coined the slogan -- "Ghotale pe Ghotala, Kejriwal ne Banaya Delhi ko Bhrashtachar ki Prayogshala (Kejriwal turned Delhi into a laboratory of corruption with scams)" -- and asserted that the BJP would remove AAP from power.
Kejriwal hits back at BJP
Kejriwal hit back at the BJP, saying in a statement that the saffron party lacked a chief ministerial face and any meaningful agenda for the Delhi Assembly elections. Its sole strategy is to abuse Kejriwal, he said.
"The AAP government has delivered on key promises such as free electricity, water, bus travel for women and improved roads while the law and order under BJP's central government is in complete disarray in Delhi, with gangsters roaming freely," he charged.
Here are key issues against the AAP government in the polls
- Pollution: The BJP placed air pollution and toxic water in Yamuna top of the list of failures of the government. AAP has been in power since 2015 but its government failed to find a permanent solution to air pollution. People are forced to be choked by the polluted air. The BJP claimed that the smog towers, which were supposed to provide relief from air pollution, were lying defunct although the AAP government spent crores of rupees on advertisement. The Opposition party kept reminding former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal of his promise to clean the Yamuna river by 2025.
- Corruption: Unlike earlier elections, this time the poll offers a tough battle for AAP on corruption issues. The arrests of its key leaders, including Kejriwal, MP Sanjay Singh, and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, dented the party's image of 'kattar imaandar'. Even though all of them got bail from the court, the case is still pending in the court which may hurt the party.
- Water issue: Every year during the summer, Delhi faces a water crisis and the people of the city see the same blame game between the BJP and the AAP. This summer, Atishi, who is CM now, sat for a hunger strike to get water from Haryana. The BJP got a big ammo to attack the AAP government over the water issue.
- Sanitation: According to the BJP, certain areas of the national capital are facing apathy of the government, especially in the slum areas. The saffron party cited water shortage, lack of sanitation, damaged roads and other issues to corner the AAP.
- 'Sheesh mahal' issue: The BJP also reminded voters that AAP national convenor had promised that he would shed VIP culture but he himself spent crores from tax-payers money on his residence when he was chief minister. The BJP's Delhi president Virendra Sachdeva said if the BJP comes to power, it will open the "sheesh mahal" (6, Flagstaff Road bungalow chief minister home) for public display.
