Decoding BJP’s stunning victory in Delhi elections
The BJP made sure every little detail of Arvind Kejriwal’s house, from the expensive marble floors to the toilet seats , was publicised
NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders credited the party’s stunning win in Delhi, ending a 27-year-old run of humiliating defeats -- especially because the party was in power at the Centre for 16 of those years -- to astute booth-level management; an extensive on-ground campaign; and a sharp narrative targeting Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The party has won 48 of the Delhi assembly’s 70 seats to the AAP’s 22. The Congress failed to win a single seat, continuing a trend that started in 2015.
Senior BJP leaders also credited the extensive campaign by the cadre of the party’s ideological fount, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
It was Kejriwal’s loss, they emphasised.
“It is the loss of a phenomenon that was Arvind Kejriwal. When he emerged as an anti-corruption face (on the India Against Corruption platform), he became a phenomenon. People voted for him...now the same people have voted against him,” said a party strategist.
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The BJP’s election narrative was mounted on the allegations of corruption against Kejriwal and his ministers, Satyendra Jain and Manish Sisodia –all three served jail time -- for irregularities in the now-scrapped liquor policy and the running of the Mohalla Clinics.
It was also built around the renovation of Kejriwal’s residence when he was CM; the BJP referred to the house as sheesh mahal (house made of glass), and even used scale models of it as props in election meetings.
“He (Kejriwal) had said he won’t travel in a big car or take an official bungalow but ended up spending public money on sheesh mahal ,” said a second party leader.
The house became a conversation staple. The BJP made sure every little detail of it, from the curtains to the expensive marble floors to the toilet seats , was publicised.
“The cadre of the Sangh (RSS) and the party circulated messages and explained to the voters how while they struggled to get clean water and proper medical care, Kejriwal was building a palace...” added the second party leader.
While alleged corruption by AAP was the leitmotif of the BJP’s campaign, the party sought to link this to the city’s crumbling infrastructure, lack of amenities and poor air quality.
“Across the state, there were complaints about lack of sanitation, clean water, about poor roads, lack of street lights, and air pollution. We went with the message that all of these are issues that are easily addressed, if there is political will. We cited the examples of BJP-ruled states and sold the idea of a double engine government that would work together to solve these issues,” said a functionary of the Sangh, who was involved in the campaign.
The BJP campaign also projected Kejriwal as a poor administrator, prone to complaining, and the primary cause of the continuous squabbling between the state government and the Lieutenant Governor. It cited the example of how Congress’s Sheila Dikshit, a three-term chief minister worked with the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at the Centre without trading charges.
Aspirations and entitlements
The strategist cited in the first instance said the BJP worked at identifying sections that had suffered on account of what he termed AAP’s “governance deficit”.
There were several, the party claimed.
“It is not just the promises of rejuvenation of the Yamuna and homes for slum dwellers that were not met, but aspirations of every class were left unfulfilled. Where people have aspirations to be in a world class city with high per capita income, the situation on the ground is just the opposite. Dug-up roads and mountains of waste, could not be covered up by their advertising blitzkrieg,” said a third BJP functionary.
The BJP, which previously balked at the freebies, but which has leveraged them to great effect in the past eight months, especially in Maharashtra, promised not only to continue with the freebies AAP was giving, but threw in some more, such as ₹1,200 a month for certain categories of poor women.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s largesse for the middle class, a revised income tax exemption for those earning up to ₹12 lakh per year that came days before polling, is another factor party leaders credit for the significant swing in middle class votes away from the AAP and to the BJP.
What also helped, according to the third BJP functionary, was that “AAP had no ideology”. “Their supporters were people who saw them as an alternative but shifted their vote soon as it became clear that someone else was doing more for them.”
And this wasn’t just about freebies, this person and other BJP leaders insisted.
“Had freebies been the key to winning elections, would K Chandrashekhar Rao (Telangana), Jagan Mohan Reddy (Andhra Pradesh) or Bhupesh Bagel (Chhattisgarh) have lost elections? Voters are sharp, they need more than freebies, they need a party that has a vision and a plan,” stressed the third functionary.
“They have realised that the BJP and Narendra Modi have a blueprint for development and empowerment.”
The BJP's booth management involved identifying 7,000-10,000 booths where the party had won the 2024 Lok Sabha polls but not the previous assembly elections. With the help of booth workers, the party set out to woo voters urging them to vote for "Modi's face and guarantee" said a fourth party leader.
"There was a four- layer outreach, senior ministers and party functionaries were assigned two constituencies each, legislators from Bihar and UP were flown in to canvass in Puravanchali dominated seats; Mahila morcha was asked to form teams of six members to carry out sampark and call on women voters and finally, all the NDA MPs were given charge of a cluster of constituencies," the fourth leader said.