New Delhi: The MCD elections which had a lower voter turnout from last time witnessed a triangular tussle between the Aam Aadmi Party, Bhartiya Janta Party and Congress. Cleanliness and landfills, which were the highlight on the spectrum of issues, was very prominently adopted by AAP as their election theme.
Apart from cleanliness and landfills, AAP came down heavily on erstwhile BJP-ruled MCD for rampant corruption in the corporation and during the campaign came up with '10 guarantees for MCD'. Along with cleanliness and corruption, these guarantees revolved around the issues of parking, stray animals, beautification of MCD parks, timely payment of employees and conversion of temporary jobs into permanent ones. Apart from this the AAP also promised to grant RWA the status of 'mini councillors' along with financial and political powers. Reflecting on the seriousness of this promise, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal even interacted with the members of different RWAs across the city in a bid to take cognisance of their demands.
The AAP also emphasized deeply on its 'Kejriwal ki Sarkar, Kejriwal ka parshad' campaign and organised various Jan Sabhas in order to communicate this message. During his rallies and speeches in the campaign, Kejriwal constantly said that there are many areas of governance and administration that are out of Delhi government's gambit and urged the citizens to vote for an AAP representative as a councillor in order to enhance the development of their area and the capital at large.
On the contrary the incumbent BJP largely focussed on attacking the AAP on the issues of alleged corruption in the former liquor policy brought in by AAP. The BJP also chose not to give out any guarantees or promises to the voters during the campaign and projected intensively the inauguration of 3,024 newly constructed EWS flats in Kalkaji done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Apart from this, the BJP even brought its six CM's of different states alongside various Union Ministers to campaign for the party.
The Congress on the other hand in its campaign reverberated the memory of former CM of Delhi, late Sheila Dixit and the work that was done under her term by the congress government, especially during the commonwealth games. As per Congress, the low voter turnout is a reflection of voter's distrust with both AAP and BJP who claim to be the frontrunners in the election.
The highlight of election day on Sunday, which was conducted under a tight security arrangement, was the low voter turnout and names of voters missing from the electoral list. Many voters reiterated the issues of cleanliness and indifference of MCD authorities towards their area and wanted their new representatives to be more alert and responsive to their issues.