Indian Political scene: Delhi goes to poll 

-DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL 

_______________

Delhi voters cast their ballots to choose the fifth assembly of Delhi. Experts will use the Delhi poll results to extrapolate the possible outcome of the national parliamentary elections, due by May.

Politics in Delhi has changed fro better with the arrival new leader to challenge  both Congress and  Hindutva BJP. 

Regional states Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi went to poll but Delhi is most important. 

Preface

The voting began as scheduled on 4th December at 8 am at over 11,000 polling stations out of which 630 have been identified as critical and hyper critical. 

National capital of India, Delhi went to polls early on 04^th December morning amid tight security to prevent any untoward incident. Over 1.19 crore voters will exercise their right to vote to elect candidates to the 70-member Delhi State Assembly. Over four lakh voters will cast their votes for the first time. In all, 810 candidates, including 70 females are in the fray. Voting began at 8 a.m. this morning and will end at 5 p.m.

The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements to ensure free and fair polls. Out of 11,753 polling booths, 630 have been declared sensitive. For the first time, webcasting has been introduced in all sensitive booths for live monitoring of proceedings. About 64,000 police personnel and 107 companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed to ensure a smooth conduct of the polls.

Intense vigil is being maintained to keep an eye on the misuse of money and muscle power in vulnerable areas, such as slum clusters and unauthorized colonies. Efforts have also been made to keep check on people coming to Delhi from Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad and Gurgaon, who may cast bogus votes during the polls.

Early to Poll 

Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari was among the first few voters to cast his vote at the Nirmal Bhawan polling booth in New Delhi constituency. Aam Admi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, who is contesting from the New Delhi constituency against incumbent Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and BJP leader V. Gupta, cast his vote within the first half an hour of polling. BJP chief ministerial candidate Dr. Harsh Vardhan, who is contesting from the Krishnanagar seat in East Delhi was also among the first voters to cast his vote.

The Congress, BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party are the main parties to form the next government in the state. In all, 66, 11, 362 males, 53, 20, 705 females, 4509 service and six NRI voters will be exercising their right to vote. The number of types of assembly constituencies are 58 in the general category; 12 in Scheduled Caste category, non in Scheduled Tribe category.  The Burari Assembly constituency witnesses 23 Candidates contesting against each other, while the Patel Nagar assembly constituency will witness only four candidates in the fray. 

The Indian National Congress  fielded 70 candidates, while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)  fields nine candidates. The Bhartiya Janata Party is fielding 68 candidates in the polls, while the Bahujan Samaj Party is fielding 69. The Communist Party of India (CPI) will field ten candidates, while the Communist Party of India (Marxist) will field three candidates. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has said that it will field two candidates, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has announced that it will field 70 candidates. About 509 Independents plus others will contest the polls.

Narela is the largest assembly constituency in terms of area at 143.42 square kilometers. The largest assembly constituency in terms of the size of the electorate is Vikas Puri at 2, 82, 632. The smallest assembly constituency electorate wise is Delhi Cantt. At 85,821. The number of general, expenditure, police and awareness observers deployed is as follows: General (70), Expenditure (18), Police and awareness observers (5) 

A total of 11.9 million voters are eligible to exercise their franchise, of which 6.61 million are men and 5.32 million are women. The number of first time voters is 405,000. A total of 810 candidates are in the fray in the three-cornered contest between the Congress, the BJP and the AAP. While the BJP has fielded candidates in 66 constituencies, the Congress and the AAP are contesting from all 70 seats. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which was the third largest party in last assembly election, has fielded candidates at 69 seats, the National Congress Party (NCP) in nine and the Samajwadi Party at 27 seats. A total of 224 independents are also in the fray.

A total of 32,801 personnel of Delhi police and 107 companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed to ensure peaceful elections.

Common-man's Party 

Nearly 1.2 crore residents of the capital are expected to choose representatives to the 70-member Delhi Assembly.

Rising prices of essentials is one the key issues and Delhiites are not  happy with the rulers, although metro rail tries to keep the voters in good humors. . 

As Delhi votes today, the attention-grabber is Arvind Kejriwal who is leading the city's newest political party. 
His Aam Admi Party (AAP) is expected to play spoiler in a fight between the incumbent Congress and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Kejriwal, 44, said this morning after casting his vote, "I am very confident of the results. It will not be my victory but that of the people." He added  that he will meditate for the next two days and "return on December 7". The results will be counted on the 8th, Sunday.

Kejriwal has chosen New Delhi as his constituency, a bold move that places him in direct competition with Sheila Dikshit, the 75-year-old chief minister who is looking for a record fourth term. The BJP has fielded former Delhi chief Vijender Gupta for the same area.

Past 

In 1952, Delhi was a C class state whose first Chief Minister was Brahm Prakash from the Congress. It was Gurmukh Nihal who succeeded him in 1955. In 1956, the assembly system was abolished and replaced by the Delhi Metropolitan Council in 1966. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the first assembly elections in Delhi in 1993 after Delhi became a state with 49 seats out of total 70 seats.  The Congress won 14 seats while the remaining three were bagged by three independent candidates. A total of 61.75 percent of the electorate voted.. Madan Lal Khurana became the chief minister. In its five-year tenure, the party saw three chief ministers, the other two being Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj.

It was Congress' turn in 1998 when it trounced the incumbent party by winning a whopping 52 seats in the 70-member assembly. The party chose Sheila Dikshit as Delhi's chief minister. The BJP was reduced to 15 seats, the Janata Dal won one seat while independent candidates bagged two seats. The BJP has not been able to wrest power since then. In 2003, the BJP raised its tally to 20 from 15 seats but it was Congress which formed the government once again under the leadership of Dikshit who became the chief minister again. In 2008, the BJP was whipped for the third time in a row by the Congress and Sheila Dikshit became the first three-time woman chief minister in India. The Congress bagged 43 seats while the BJP stood second with 23.

While Congress President and Vice-President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi campaigned in one and two rallies respectively, BJP banked on its Prime Ministrial candidate to draw votes. AAP, however, went door to door to promote their agendas. Their development model too was a model for BJP. Dividing the city into various constituencies and addressing their problems according to their needs has been well accepted by the mass. On second thoughts, Congress may have to worry for their majority this time, especially as the party's campaign was largely led by the Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, but that too lacked conviction -given the sharp rise in prices in the past few months, the increasing rape cases and other administrative loopholes.

Corruption 

Corruption, apart from rising prices,  has been the top  theme of the poll campaign by parties other than ruling Congress party. Mafias are very strong in the capital city. 

India is among top ranking corrupt nations of the universe that promote corruption and other forms of crimes  deliberately. . 

The entry of Kejriwal’s AAP has changed the dimension of the elections and it will be interesting to see whether the newbie will just be a “spoiler” or win some seats as predicted by opinion polls, riding on its anti-corruption plank.

Kejriwal has campaigned against endemic and systemic corruption. His Aam Aadmi Party hopes to capitalize on the disillusionment with the two major political parties by offering what it claims will be an honest administration which takes the pressing problems of the city as its priority. Kejriwal's one-year-old party constitutes and is flanked by an army of volunteers who in recent weeks have trudged through the alleys of the city's poorest neighborhoods to tap the deep vein of dissatisfaction that has gripped Delhi residents, particularly over corruption and the soaring cost of living. While campaigning, Kejriwal has dramatically brandished his party's election symbol, the broom while vowing to "sweep out the rubbish that has accumulated over the decades."

Apart from deploying its specially trained volunteers, AAP has also educated the voters not to fall prey to such tactics. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party has distributed over five lakh pamphlets in these areas, making an appeal to people "not to sell their vote for liquor for the sake of the future of their children". AAP volunteers in Badli village Assembly constituency claimed to have caught red-handed some people allegedly stocking liquor bottles for distributing at night at a cold drink shop. The party said they got a tip-off about distribution of money by some workers of rival parties in Kalkaji and Narela Assembly constituencies.

In its manifesto, the Congress has promised to set up a single command system to address the problems of multiplicity of authorities and a common economic zone for the entire national capital region to minimize load on Delhi’s infrastructure. It has also promised to construct double-decker flyovers to ease traffic congestion. The BJP has also promised to give 12 subsidized LPG cylinders in a year to each household instead of current nine, besides ensuring full statehood. It has also promised to set up a dedicated Women Security Force to ensure safety of women.

In a bid to boost voter turnout, nine ‘model’ polling stations with spruced-up infrastructure have been set up for the first time. The AAP said it will pass the Jan Lokpal Bill within 15 days of coming to power, besides promising to cut power tariff by 50%. It said 700 litres of water per day will be given free to each household.

When asked about the prospects of the Congress, Sonia Gandhi said with a smile, “We will win”. Sonia came with Dikshit and stood in the queue for a little while before being escorted inside the poll booth at the Nirman Bhavan. Clad in a while kurta-pyjama and a half-jacket, Rahul queued up for around 32 minutes before his turn came at booth number 88 at Aurangazeb Lane in New Delhi constituency from where Sheila Dikshit is contesting. Exuding confidence over Congress’s victory, Rahul said that Dikshit has “done a lot of good work in Delhi. I think she will do well.” “People of Delhi will win and corruption will be defeated in the election,” Kejriwal told reporters.

Facing the toughest battle of her political career, three-time chief minister Dikshit said she has kept her “fingers crossed” on the outcome of the election.  Dikshit said her government had ensured inclusive development in the last 15 years and hoped that people of the city will give the ruling party another opportunity to serve them.

In a bid to check any attempt to woo voters through distribution of cash and liquor in Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has launched a special drive to maintain vigil in susceptible areas of the national capital. Known for its unique initiatives in the elections, AAP has deployed hundreds of volunteers around slums clusters, jhuggis and resettlement colonies in different assembly constituencies in outer Delhi and other areas notorious for such practises under its 'Vote Ki Chowkidari' (protect your vote) program ahead of tomorrow's vote.  They would keep a strict vigil in these areas from 5 PM onward today till early in the morning. An AAP leader said"They would be backed our 30-35 Emergency Response Teams (ERT), which we have deployed strategically, and our legal team throughout the night," he said, adding "we will make all efforts to check this practice".

Word

Vice-president Hamid Ansari, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi,Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit were among the early voters in the Delhi assembly polls which recorded an impressive 17% turnout in the first three hours. In 2008 assembly polls, the overall voting percentage was 57.58%. The chief electoral officer hoped that people will vote in large number to create a new record. “I am confident that people of Delhi will create a new record of polling. There has been huge enthusiasm among the people about the election,” he said.

There were some reports of malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in some parts of the city but they were rectified

The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung, cast his vote early, and said the high turnout in elections is proof of India's democratic nature. Responding to low voter turnout in past election in Delhi, he said Delhi being the National Capital, should vote in good numbers.

The elections in Delhi and four other states are being seen as the semi-final for the Lok Sabha polls to be held next year. The stakes in this election are high for Dikshit, who mainly highlighted her achievements and development agenda during the campaigning, while the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan promised to cut power tariff by 30% and slash vegetable prices within 30 days of coming to power.

Though Aam Admi party (Common-man's Party) is now in slight  advantageous position it is not that easy to detect the minds of all voters in Delhi without counting the ballot boxes and not until all votes are cast. 

Latest: 

The exit poll results for Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi are more or less on expected lines, with the BJP clearly ahead in the first two, marginally ahead in the third, and probably likely to fall short in the fourth – Delhi. Of the four results, the only one that really matters is that of Delhi, where it is clear that the Congress is out, but the Common Man’s Party -Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has put up a terrific enough show to possibly rob the BJP of a clear victory. it is Delhi that is telling a story of change.

A few analysts say Delhi probably is heading for a hung assembly, and but this is Arvind Kejriwal’s crowning glory. The BJP’s last-minute decision to dump Vijay Goel and choose Harsh Vardhan as its chief ministerial candidate may have come too little, too late. The Delhi vote is important because it is an urban vote 

Delhi is important also because it is a state where the Congress faced a double anti-incumbency – one against the central government and the other than the Sheila Dikshit government. But the irony is that one anti-incumbency vote went to the AAP and the other to the BJP. This is why we may well have a hung assembly.

Obviously, this is AAP’s election. It has established that it is a viable political force in Delhi. How that translates to viability in other states and other cities is a different question, but there is little doubt it is here to stay.

But in every body's mind one question rings: will the new government make life easier for people of Delhi? Will politicians take the people's concerns seriously enough?

Yes, we must have patience to wait!