On Sunday, the BJP, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and the Congress will face off in a triangular race spanning 250 wards in Delhi’s civic elections. The elections for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) are being held for the first time since three civic bodies were combined into one. In the national capital, approximately 1.45 crore voters are eligible to participate in the election, which has approximately 1,300 candidates. In the run-up to the polls, the city has seen recurrent conflicts between Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP as well as the BJP, which has dominated the local body for 15 years. As previously reported, the MCD has a yearly budget of Rs 15,2000 crore and employs around 15,000 employees.
Here are ten points on the MCD polls:
1) The stakes are high for any and all three sides in the triangle competition. Whereas the AAP aims to sweep in civic elections for the first-ever time following gaining 48 of the 272 wards in 2017, the BJP is attempting to retain control of the MCD. The Congress, which has been out of control in both both government and civil society, hopes to restore its political fortunes.
2) Despite being the national capital, Delhi is plagued by civic challenges. The AAP and the BJP have sparred several times over people’ issues ranging from drainage to highways and dump sites.
Some other issue that has recently included on the list is air pollution, with the city witnessing falling AQI (air quality index) every winter.
3) The BJP has a 12-point programme for the civic elections in which it promises to abolish trade, health, and industry licences as well as create pucca dwellings for slum people. Another promised is the city’s ‘jan rasois,’ or women-run kitchen, which will open at 5 p.m. and provide meals.
4) Meanwhile, Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP has vowed in its 10-point platform to flatten the city’s landfills and clean up the rubbish issue.
In accordance with what’s been presented as the fundamental principle of the party, it has also declared that it will weed out corruption.Other aspects of the manifesto include an emphasis on municipal school and hospitals, as well as encouraging people to adopt strays to reduce the number of community canines.
5) Will the Congress make an impression in these polls? The grand old party needs to respond positively at a time whenever its former president, Rahul Gandhi, is undertaking a 3,500-kilometer foot march throughout the country in readiness for the 2024 national elections.
6) The party platform, dubbed “Congress Vision MCD-Meri Chamakti Delhi,” dates back to Dixit’s tenure as Prime Minister. Environmental management, financial self-sufficiency, and garbage landfill eradication are among the key goals.
7) A number of scandals have emerged as the AAP is positioned against the BJP in the vital votes, which are being held during the same period as the key Gujarat elections.
8) The recordings from Tihar of imprisoned Delhi minister Satyendar Jain, claims related to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the excise policy case by the BJP, and the expected reaction are some of the scandals that have led to a deadlock between the two parties.
9) The BJP has branded Arvind Kejriwal’s pledge to RWAs (Resident Welfare Associations) to award them the status of mini-councillors if his party wins the MCD elections a “trick.”
10) The BJP launched a high-profile campaign, with union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Jyotiraditya Scindia, as well as chief ministers Jai Ram Thakur (Himachal Pradesh), Pushkar Singh Dhami (Uttarakhand), and Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), asking voters to return the party to office. While the Congress campaign was uninteresting, AAP leaders juggled between two states, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, where state elections are being contested, and Delhi.