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Arvind Kejriwal has a lot riding on the 2025 Delhi Assembly election result. While he is fighting to get a third full term in Delhi, he is also facing anti-incumbency on account of 10 years of Aam Aadmi Party rule in the national capital.
A rejuvenated BJP and Congress have been challenging Kejriwal’s dominance among Delhi voters. Despite the political churn of an election season, Kejriwal is banking on some key factors to fire in his favour.
Factors that work for Kejriwal include the expansion of freebies including direct transfers to women and healthcare for the elderly. When the BJP and Congress reacted with even bigger promises, they appeared to be playing the catch-up game.
The core voters of the AAP - comprising Purvanchalis, Dalits and Muslims - have passed several tests of loyalty. Even the BJP’s traditional Punjabi-Baniya vote have backed the AAP during Assembly polls. This time, if the BJP can swing the Punjabi-Baniya vote, the scales could tilt for the saffron party.
What would worry the AAP is its shrinking vote share and victory margins. First between the 2015 and 2020 Assembly elections. And then a similar decline in support between 2020 Assembly results and the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The AAP cannot overlook the fact that since 2014, Delhi has given all 7 Lok Sabha seats to the BJP in three successive general elections.
But breaching ‘Fortress Kejriwal’ could still prove to be a tall order for the BJP or Congress. Kejriwal enjoys such a long headstart in the politics of freebies and disruption, that he could yet again surge ahead, provided his X factor clicks.