The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has released the fourth list of candidates for the Delhi Assembly elections and, in one go, announced all 70 contestants.
AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal will contest from the New Delhi constituency that he has been representing since 2013 thus far to indicate his importance for the party.
With this, the political heat is going to rise further in the national capital.
AAP’s AAP has always attempted to strike a balance between known faces and fresh candidature in its list.
With this fourth list of candidates, five in all, the party is done announcing names for all constituencies.
These final selections are said to have been made on the basis of grassroots connect, representation from different sections of society and compatibility with the AAP governance model.
In the high-stakes New Delhi constituency, Kejriwal’s candidature underlines the fact that he will again be leading his party’s campaign.
Education Minister Atishi, Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj and Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot are prominent among AAP’s other candidates who are seeking re-election from their current seats.
Strategy Behind Candidate Selection
The party has formulated the strategy to not only defend but also to attack few of the seats being won by the party in 2020 elections.
The candidate list of AAP makes it very evident that the party remains committed to governance reforms, education, healthcare and infrastructure that were key ingredients of its electoral victories.
New faces have been brought in for the segments, where party feels there is improvement possibility or competition is higher.
For example, seats like Seelampur and Mustafabad, where it had not performed well in the past elections too, have been given priority for better representation.
Kejriwal’s Key Role
Arvind Kejriwal, not surprisingly, is leading AAP’s campaign from the front with an appeal to voters to help him “finish” things that have been initiated in his current tenure.
Clearly, the party will make a pitch based on its governance model. It hopes that issues of water quality and electricity supply among other things will resonate with people.
Education and public health in particular are seen as focus areas.
Kejriwal’s promise (familiar from 2014) to curb corruption will also be used to attract votes.
As part of their preparations ahead of LS polls AAP has already downsized itself into a small pool for fiefdoms.
Pradesh Congress president Ajay Maken said complaints against sitting MPs and MLAs should go through district committees of the party rather than leaders in Delhi.
New Delhi is particularly important; it serves as a litmus test of AAP’s city-wide popularity.
Challenges from the Opposition
The AAP is up against a tough fight between the BJP and the Congress. BJP is Jointly challenging AAP’s policies, but refuses to announce any chief minister candidate.
Congress is trying to regain lost ground by bringing to light several local issues and forming a better opposition front.
Both parties are going to take on AAP’s achievements around pollution control and housing which have faced much criticism in recent years.
Election Outlook
Delhi Assembly elections, already the drama of dreaded political fiction, are nowhere coming close.
AAP is doing everything within its limits to reproduce 62 out of 70 performance in 2020. The polls will also be a testing ground for the popularity of AAP’s policies and Kejriwal’s leadership against more aggressive opposition.
With the campaign gaining momentum, AAP’s focus on good governance and grassroots issues positions it well as a group. But with near-elections changing voter sentiments the final outcome is unpredictable.
