Time for introspection

The likely return of newbie Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) a year after it chucked power as well as surprise defeat of hot favourite Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the State that has the nation’s capital is reason enough to take note of the exit polls, without awaiting final results.

Improving with experience, but never fully reliable, the exit polls indicate Delhi may get a stable government, ending 15 months of political uncertainty. Indications are that the BJP may get a maximum of 33 seats – it has claimed 34, two short of a simple majority. But AAP’s average among the seven pollsters is way ahead at 40. One of them has even predicted 52 wins for AAP.

The message from Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, hoping that “new government will complete full term,” is significant. The AAP made a dramatic debut under Arvind Kejriwal in December 2013 and formed a government with outside Congress support. But it got mired in its own agitations that critics said were excesses committed on the people who had enthusiastically elected it.

That Delhi’s vocal middle class, perceived to be most disenchanted with AAP for this, may have placed faith in it again is significant. It means Delhi is tired of shenanigans of the established parties. A third force that emerged from the 2011-2013 anti-graft movement of social activist Anna Hazare has given them hope. That Hazare himself got sidelined in the process, with two of his lieutenants Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi slugging it out at the polls, is a different story altogether.

The BJP seemed a sure-winner, considering its winning spree since the Lok Sabha polls last May. It fielded several ministers and even the PM addressed well-attended meetings. It tried to rectify its major weakness, factionalism within its Delhi unit, by inducting Bedi. But she arrived too late in the day. Kejriwal was way ahead in the campaign. Some of Bedi’s media gaffes complicated things. To be fair, while still doubting the exit polls, she has accepted responsibility for the possible BJP defeat.

AAP is estimated to have done well despite the number of dissidents who campaigned and contested against it. The money-laundering charge against it got expectedly played up in the heat of the poll campaign. But sections of media also took note of AAP’s receiving funds in a transparent manner by cheque and the posts on its website, something the competitors have failed to do.

AAP is the new magnet in the national capital of 13.3 million voters, a record 67 per cent of whom voted. The young and debutante voters preferred AAP to others. The Congress seems to be a big loser, expected to win no more than three to five seats. Not expected to do well, many traditional voters, among them a bulk of the Muslims appear to have moved over to AAP.