Delhi Elections: What has changed for the BJP in last 10 years?

The Delhi election results are almost known, with the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) winning the battle against the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) comfortably. The saffron party has won 40 seats and is leading on 8 seats. While the AAP has won 18 and is leading on 4 seats. The Congress, despite its improved show in this election, could not win any seats.

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 the 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 that 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, 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 to 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 its 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-year 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, 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” claim.

Another factor that led to the BJP’s resurgence over the last 10 years is that people of this country have reposed their faith in Narendra Modi’s governance for the last three Lok Sabha polls. With Narendra Modi at the centre, the BJP is always seen as a great force by people, irrespective of where it is fighting the election. There were many states where we saw that the BJP didn’t have even their CM faces, but the party could win the elections due to Modi’s mass appeal.

At 4.32 PM, when trends almost settled, the BJP had won 40 seats and the AAP on 17 seats. Of the remaining 13 seats, the BJP was leading on 9 and AAP on 4. Congress failed to open its account again in Delhi.