Delhi MCD Elections: Six reasons why BJP won and AAP lost

New Delhi: BJP workers and supporters, wearing the mask of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, celebrate the party’s victory in the assembly elections, at party headquarters in New Delhi on Saturday. PTI Photo by Kamal Kishore (PTI3_11_2017_000038B)

In line with exit polls' predictions, trends that have emerged show a clear victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections. In the run up to the MCD elections, pollsters wrote off the Aam Aadmi Party which won 67 of the 70 seats in Delhi Assembly elections in 2015. The BJP projected the MCD polls as a plank for the 2019 General Elections and a win for the party may just be another sign of what is to come two years from now.

Here's a lowdown on the factors that influenced the MCD elections.

1. Fresh Faces Help Overcome Anti-incumbency Rider

The BJP-led the MCD for 10 years and didn't take it for granted. the party decided to not give any sitting councillor a ticket and thus overcame anti-incumbency barrier which usually is a reason for poll defeats. Voters seem to have imposed faith of the party which fielded fresh faces.

2. Brand Modi at Play

The BJP harped on the image and the feats achieved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and given the brand he is, rivals Congress and AAP were no match. Besides, the BJP portrayed the MCD elections as a referendum Modi's achievements and a pre-cursor to 2019 General Elections.

3. Rajouri Garden bypoll defeat for AAP

AAP suffered a humiliating defeat in Rajouri Garden bypoll as MLA Jarnail Singh’s shift to Punjab disappointed the voters. Voters may have percieved it as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal failing to fulfil promises he made to Delhi and while aiming for a play at national level. Also, remarks by AAP leaders projecting him as Punjab CM candidate too didn't go down well with Delhi's voters. The voters also remembered that it Kejriwal who abruptly stepped down as Chief Minister in 2014, just 49 days after taking the helm.

4. Questioning Election Commission

The AAP frequently blamed Election Commission of India for its defeat in bypolls, which in turn projected the party as one incapable of humbly accepting defeat. The losses in Punjab and Goa also depicted that the party wasn't ready to take a relook at its strategy.

5. AAP — A victim of its own image

When the AAP came to power it Delhi, it was a minnow taking on a giant as voters saw it as victim. That is not the case today, two years since Arvind Kejriwal became Chief Minister.

7. AAP government's failings

The party indulged in targeting the Centre and and former Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung instead of setting sights on it populist schemes such as mohalla clinics, regularisation of private school fees and slashing water and electricity charges. In a sense, the party and its government never look on a strong footing for Delhi voters.