Door-to-door campaign, local issues aided BJP: Party review

Ahead of the Delhi polls, the BJP formed 43 committees to fine-tune and execute its campaign, aimed at challenging the ruling AAP.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders who spearheaded the party’s campaign for the 2025 Delhi assembly elections gathered with members of the party’s 43 committees to review the election results. They found that focusing on hyper-local issues, a door-to-door campaign, and addressing civic problems had significantly resonated with voters.

Senior BJP leaders seen during a meeting with Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva at party headquarters at Pant Marg in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

Ahead of the Delhi polls, the BJP formed 43 committees to fine-tune and execute its campaign, aimed at challenging the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). These committees were responsible for tasks ranging from social media management and call center operations to Purvanchali outreach, booth-level management, manifesto creation, and organizing rallies. The panels played a pivotal role in driving the party’s campaign efforts from November 28 to February 3.

The meeting, held at the party’s city unit office on Pant Marg, was attended by Delhi BJP poll in-charge Baijayant Panda, co-in-charges Alka Gurjar and Atul Garg, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva, and other senior leaders, including Union minister Harsh Malhotra, who also serves as the election management committee convener.

Sachdeva described the election as a “referendum” on the deceit and propaganda of AAP versus the truth and development represented by the BJP. “The people have rejected Arvind Kejriwal and delivered a strong message against lies and deceit,” he said.

BJP leaders highlighted that focusing on hyper-local issues, such as water shortages, broken roads, sewage problems, and pollution in the Yamuna, resonated deeply with voters.

A party leader familiar with the discussions on Wednesday noted that the committee’s review meeting celebrated the role of the 43 panels in ensuring the party’s victory. “We conduct such review meetings after every major campaign. Each panel assessed their contributions and what worked,” the leader said.

The panels worked on varied mandates, ranging from booth management and publicity material to cultural campaigns.

Tilak Raj Kataria, former standing committee chairman and head of the booth committee, shared that the BJP ran a decentralised booth-level campaign across 13,033 booths. “Each booth had a team of six people, including one woman, one youth, and one SC member,” he said.

“The household-level campaign brought issues like governance failure, water shortage, sanitation woes and broken roads to fore. This was especially successful in JJ clusters,” he added.

Virender Babbar, who coordinated the rallies and public meetings of national leaders, chief ministers, and union ministers, explained that the BJP ran a focused campaign in areas where voter sentiment was uncertain. “We emphasized issues like water supply, sanitation, Yamuna pollution, and broken roads, which the AAP government had ignored,” he said.

A fourth leader discussed the role of the social media team, which played a crucial part in shaping the narrative. The team produced memes that highlighted corruption and governance failures, countering AAP’s messaging. “Memes get maximum traction. The Sheesh Mahal scandal eroded AAP’s ‘aam aadmi’ image, and the liquor scam damaged its anti-corruption plank,” the leader said. In total, 80 meme posters were released during the peak of the campaign.

After 27 years, the BJP returned to power in the Delhi assembly, securing 48 out of 70 seats. AAP won 22 seats, while the Congress failed to secure any seats. In his concluding address, Baijayant Panda thanked the party workers and credited the victory to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, along with the hard work of booth-level workers.

“BJP workers in Delhi gave their all during the election campaign.”