Delhi election results are underway, and early trends at 9.45 AM suggest that the Bhartiya Janta Party is on its course to win the battle against the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) comfortably. The saffron party, in early trends, is leading on 50 seats, while AAP is seen doing well on 19 seats. The Congress, despite its improved show in this election, doesn’t seem to be getting too many seats to either form the government or support the AAP to form a coalition government.
So what’s behind this turnaround for the BJP which has been out of power in Delhi for the last 27 years? The BJP’s last government was headed by late Sushma Swaraj, who was the CM for just 52 days until 3 December 1998. Since then it’s been either Congress or the AAP which have ruled Delhi.
What’s behind the BJP’s resurrection in Delhi over the last 10 years?
Congress returned to power in Delhi in December 1998 and ruled the state until December 2013. The grand old party lost its ground considerably, dented by several corruption allegations against the Manmohan Singh government at the Centre and the state government, which helped the newly formed party, AAP, establish itself as a reckoning force in a very short period. Though the corruption allegations didn’t help the BJP much at that time in Delhi but at the central level, the saffron party was able to turn the tide against the UPA government, which was in power for the last 10 years – from 2004-2014.
The AAP government in the first term didn’t last long and fell after 48 days as it was supported by the Congress from outside as it didn’t have own majority. But in its 2nd and 3rd terms, the AAP received the massive mandate from the Delhi public.
Now, coming to the point why there is so much seemingly angst among people against the AAP after its 10 years rule. There are many reasons experts and political pundits are giving.
Liquor scam is one of the factors that has dented the AAP’s image, like what we have seen with Congress when the Commonwealth scam, 2G scam and coal scam, etc. allowed the BJP to attack the Congress at the Centre. The same thing happened with the AAP, which always fought its elections on a “clean image and corruption-free governance”
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