New Delhi:
Election for the 70 assembly seats of Delhi, crucial for Arvind Kejriwal in view of the massive corruption allegations against him and his government, will be held today. The triangular contest will be between the ruling AAP, BJP and the Congress.
Here are the top 10 points in this story:
- Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party has swept the last two elections. But since then, the government has been facing huge corruption allegations in connection with a now-scrapped liquor policy.
- The BJP is hoping for victory this time, powered by huge rallies led by PM Modi and an early start from its mammoth election machinery. After 10 years in Delhi’s political fringes, the Congress is is also hoping for a comeback
- Mr Kejriwal and several of his ministers, including his closest aide Manish Sisodia, had been in jail for months and the AAP chief had to step down from the Chief Minister’s post, leaving Atishi in charge. He, however, took a moral high ground, saying he would be back in the top post only after a “certificate of honesty” from the people.
- The AAP government has also been hamstrung owing to its repeated face-offs with the Lieutenant Governor over multiple issues.
- Despite the clear decision of the Supreme Court that the elected government has all the power and the LG has a say only three specific areas -land, public order and the police- the Union government gave LG power over bureaucrats with an Ordinance.
- The arrest of Manish Sisodia and Arvind Kejriwal were also spurred by Lieutenant Governor’s clearance of a probe into the liquor scam. Mr Kejriwal was arrested in March last year and spent almost six months in jail. Manish Sisodia was in jail for 17 months.
- Several other AAP ministers and leaders including Sanjay Singh, Satyendar Jain and Amanatullah Khan were also arrested under various allegations. The corruption allegations have been crucial for AAP, which came to power on the wings of the anti-corruption crusade of noted Gandhian Anna Hazare.
- AAP, which pulled the plug on its alliance government with the Congress just after 48 days during its first stint, won the 2015 election after Mr Kejriwal apologised to the people of Delhi and sought another chance, promising that he would stay on for full five years.
- Their second sweep was powered by a model of governance focussing on education and healthcare. Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “revdi culture” allegation, the Delhi model brought AAP success in Punjab as well, and helped the party expand its footprint in other states, bringing it the tag of a national party.
- A loss in Delhi at this point will be huge setback for the 10-year-old party while a victory against all the odds will firmly establish its credentials as an intrepid competitor of the BJP.
