Centre Dominated Administration Played A Big Role In Defeating AAP In Delhi Polls

By P. Sudhir

The BJP has won the Delhi assembly election with a tally of 48 seats, polling 45.6 per cent of the vote. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 22 seats getting 43.6 per cent of the vote. The difference between the two was only 2 per cent but it translated into 40 seats more over only 8 seats received by the BJP in 2020 assembly polls.

The Delhi assembly election results are being viewed and analysed from varying standpoints. There is no doubt that the BJP winning Delhi after 27 long years has given a boost to the party and to the Modi government. At the same time, the defeat of the AAP after ten years in office is being interpreted in a particular way. The predominant view put out by the corporate media and the pro-establishment commentators is that the AAP has been punished by the electorate for its sins of commission and omission.

It is said that the AAP, which had its origin in the ‘India against Corruption’ movement, has now been tarnished with corruption charges and the image of its leader, Arvind Kejriwal, has been tainted. The other popular refrain is that the AAP had, in its first full term in office, delivered on various promises for the welfare of the poorer sections – free electricity upto 200 units per household; free water supply and setting up of mohalla clinics and upgrading of government schools. But in the second term, the AAP government failed to perform, except for introducing free bus rides for women. The tussle between the Lt. Governor and the AAP government is also attributed to be one of the causes but the tendency is to put the blame on both the parties.

So it is concluded that the mounting anti-incumbency has resulted in the electoral setback for the AAP and the BJP with the assurance of the Modi guarantees and a double-engine government has earned the people’s mandate.

It is true that in the second term of the AAP government (2020-25), it has not been able to fulfil some of its key pledges. There is discontent, particularly among the middle classes, about deteriorating infrastructure – roads, sewerage, garbage disposal and water supply. The AAP has become a casualty of its non-ideological approach, which was made into its signature style. The aggressive Hindutva politics of the BJP and RSS was sought to be nullified by a consistent appeal to Hindu religious symbolism and sentiments. The AAP leadership studiously refrained from taking a consistent stand in support of the Muslim minorities, who had come under attack. The AAP government became increasingly inaccessible and grievances of different sections of the people including workers, teachers and students went unheard.

Finally, the image of the AAP as a clean and non-corrupt party got dented, not so much, by the Modi government’s fabrication of false cases, but by the costly renovation of the chief minister’s residence. The `Sheesh Mahal’ campaign of the BJP had some resonance with a section of the voters.

Having acknowledged all these, still the main factor in the electoral outcome – the Modi government and the BJP’s single-minded assault on the AAP government and its leadership – is being underplayed or ignored. What has happened in the National Capital Territory of Delhi is unprecedented in the annuls of independent India.

There was a veritable capture of the state government by the centre by resorting to unconstitutional means. The Delhi government, as per the Act passed in 1991, had its powers limited with police, law and order and land brought under the purview of the central government, through the Lt. Governor. But unable to defeat the AAP in the 2020 elections, the Modi government embarked upon a diabolical plan to take away control of the administrative services from the Delhi government and ministry.

The Lt. Governor started exercising the powers of appointment and transfer of officials. The bureaucracy stopped listening to ministers and instead awaited the directives of the Lt. Governor. The Delhi government went to the Supreme Court against this order. In May 2023, the Supreme Court in a judgement overrode the Lt. Governor’s powers and held that the Delhi government had control over the administrative services except in the portfolios of public order, police and land. The union home minister could not accept this verdict and immediately an ordinance was brought vesting the services under the jurisdiction of the Lt. Governor. This was subsequently incorporated as an amendment to the Government of NCT of Delhi Act.

During this entire period, a spectacle unfolded wherein the bureaucrats not only would not listen to the ministers, but often worked against the direction given by the ministers. The Lt. Governor and the senior bureaucrats connived in framing charges against the ministers. On top of this were the arrests of a senior minister, the deputy chief minister and finally the chief minister, who were all sent to jail. Many essential supplies like water became a casualty of the centre’s usurpation of powers. For instance, the Delhi Assembly had passed Rs 3,000 crores for the Delhi Jal Board in the budget allocation in February 2024. This was a budgeted provision passed as legislation by the Assembly. Yet the finance secretary stopped these funds from going to the Jal Board. The Delhi government had to go to the Supreme Court for relief in the matter.

So the paralysis of government and sabotage by the senior civil servants became the AAP government’s liability. It is this very crime committed by the Modi government, which has now been encashed by it, while the AAP has paid the price for non-performance.

One would have thought that this electoral battle in Delhi would have been a rallying call for all secular opposition parties to come together to defeat the BJP for its nefarious onslaught on democracy and federalism. This did not happen, neither could AAP carry this campaign powerfully among the people.

The stance of the Congress in these elections is being rightly criticised by other parties of the INDIA bloc. The Congress election campaign was focussed more on defeating AAP and branding its leader, Kejriwal, as a corrupt person. Rahul Gandhi himself set the tone for this campaign. Further the Congress party, which had garnered only 4.26 per cent in the last assembly elections should not have fought all 70 seats in the assembly, when there could not be any understanding with the AAP. While the main reason for AAP’s defeat is the big swing away from it, it is also a fact that in 13 seats where the AAP lost, the Congress polled more votes than the margin of defeat. AAP leaders – Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Saurabh Bharadwaj – all lost with a margin of votes less than what the Congress polled.

Though the results are a disappointment for the secular-democratic opposition, the fact remains that nearly 44 per cent of the electorate voted for AAP, the bulk of them being poorer sections and women. (IPA Service)