Delhi Assembly polls: Can Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP pull off a hat-trick?

Delhi will vote on February 5, with the counting of votes three days in a while February 8. The AAP is hoping to plot support to strength for a third term, while its rivals the BJP and the Congress are trying to dislodge Arvind Kejriwal’s occasion in the National Capital

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Broken-down Delhi CM and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal is eyeing a third term. PTI

The stage is region for Delhi Assembly elections. The Union Territory will trudge to polls on February 5, with the consequences on February 8. Delhi will learn about a three-cornered fight that is prone to influence national politics.

The Aam Aadmi Occasion (AAP) is vying to plot support to strength again, while its rivals the Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) and Congress are hoping to united states it. It is a ways a excessive-stakes battle for all three parties.

Let’s decode.

AAP strives for third term

Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is leaving no stone unturned to withhold strength in the National Capital. Delhi is the set aside AAP modified into once born from the India In opposition to Corruption (IAC) race in 2012.

A year later, the AAP ousted Congress from strength in the UT, a hit 28 of the 70 Assembly seats, with a vote portion of 29.49 per cent. Kejriwal formed the government with outdoor backing from the Congress. Nonetheless, his minority government lasted simplest 49 days.

Kejriwal then went on to lead his occasion to spectacular victories in the Delhi Assembly elections in 2015 and 2020, a hit 67 and 62 seats, respectively.

In the 2015 Assembly elections, the BJP managed to clinch simplest three seats and a 32.19 per cent vote portion and the Congress drew a blank, with a vote portion below 10 per cent. The Kejriwal-led occasion bagged an awesome vote portion of 54.34 per cent.

The AAP’s seat tally declined in 2020 however the occasion maintained a vote portion of fifty three.57 per cent. It benefited on the value of Congress, which lost its voter inferior of miserable and decrease middle-class electors.

Kejriwal is banking on his governance file, welfare schemes and subsidies to procure the February 2025 elections.

The AAP, which is dealing with its toughest battle but, kickstarted its election campaign months support. It has already declared all candidates for the 70 Assembly seats in Delhi. Many sitting MLAs had been dropped, while the seats of some akin to veteran deputy Manish Sisodia had been modified.

The ruling occasion is contesting the polls on the face of its national convenor Kejriwal, giving the election slogan of ‘Phir laayenge Kejriwal’.

Till about a months previously, the AAP’s senior leadership, including Kejriwal and Sisodia, modified into once in prison on costs of corruption. Whereas AAP’s Kalkaji MLA Atishi is the Delhi chief minister, Kejriwal has iterated he is the occasion’s candidate for the tip job in the upcoming elections.

To woo voters, the AAP has promised to pay ladies Rs 2,100 month-to-month if elected support to strength. It has furthermore vowed to bear free therapy for senior residents used 60 and above at all government and internal most hospitals in Delhi below the Sanjeevani Yojana.

The AAP is furthermore expecting to reap political dividends on subsidies on water and strength, and reforms in healthcare.

Nonetheless, the refined fight from the BJP and the Congress’ aggressive campaign may anxiousness its probabilities.

If the Congress revives its scattered voter inferior, it'll play a spoilsport for the AAP and earnings the saffron occasion.

For AAP, a victory for a third consecutive term would add wings to its national ambitions, giving it an edge over the Congress in the INDIA bloc.

What’s at stake for BJP, Congress?

The BJP is the AAP’s major opponent in the Delhi Assembly polls. It has now not declared a CM face but and is combating the elections on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s face.

The saffron occasion has remained out of strength in Delhi for bigger than two a long time. Whereas the BJP has acquired all seven seats in Delhi in the closing three Lok Sabha elections, it has did now not procure the Assembly elections in the UT since 1998.

PM Modi has region the campaign tone for the BJP in his speeches while inaugurating main infrastructure projects for Delhi. Hitting out at AAP, he raised the occasion’s pollslogan: “AAP-da nahi sahenge, badal ke rahenge (We cannot tolerate this catastrophe, we can carry a alternate).”

For the BJP, Delhi elections are a battle of place. After a reduced mandate in closing year’s Lok Sabha elections, the saffron occasion bounced support in the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections, a hit each and every.

Nonetheless, Delhi has remained elusive for the BJP. The AAP is making an strive to nook the saffron occasion over the lack of a CM face in the city. As per Indian Verbalize, the BJP is relying on its voter inferior – higher middle class, the shopping and selling and Punjabi communities — and gives a enhance to from a portion of Purvanchali voters to defeat the AAP in Delhi. It is a ways now making efforts to furthermore lure the decrease middle class, Dalits and the miserable to carry the final blow.

A triumph in Delhi would further enhance the morale of the BJP’s cadre and cling the winds out of the sails of the opposition INDIA bloc.

The Congress, which modified into once the dominant pressure in Delhi below Sheila Dikshit from 1998 and 2013, is now combating for relevance in the National Capital, as per ThePrint.

The Delhi Congress unit is beset by organisational weak point and leadership challenges. The Gigantic Historical Occasion, which is an ally of the AAP in the INDIA bloc, is contesting against Kejriwal’s occasion in Delhi. To counter Kejriwal’s financial lend a hand for ladies, the Congress has announced Pyari Didi Yojana below which it'll present a month-to-month allowance of Rs 2,500 to ladies if voted to strength.

#WATCH | #DelhiElections2025 | Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar says, "On the present time, I am right here to launch the 'Pyari Didi' plot. I am assured that Congress will make the government in Delhi and we can present Rs 2,500 to ladies, and it will likely be decided in the very first assembly of cupboard… pic.twitter.com/ZrfchVB2g3— ANI (@ANI) January 6, 2025

The Congress has to this level announced forty eight candidates for the upcoming elections. As per Indian Verbalize sources, the national leadership is quiet hoping to forge an alliance with the AAP in the Assembly polls but its Delhi unit is reluctant.

The Congress would now not like a reliable face in Delhi. Whereas senior leaders of heaps of parties like hit the campaign path, Congress’ Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are but to tackle public gatherings in the National Capital.

For the Congress, a humiliating defeat in Delhi would further rub salt into its anxiousness of shedding Haryana and Maharashtra, the states it had anticipated to procure. Delhi loss will furthermore damage its standing in the INDIA grouping.

With inputs from companies