All eyes on high-stakes Bawana bypoll
POLL BATTLE Outcome crucial for major parties in fray; AAP hopes to end losing streak and Cong wants to revive its political fortunes
Delhi has been in the poll mode ever since the 2013 assembly elections.
It started with the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the 2015 assembly elections when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swept to power, the Rajouri Garden assembly by-poll followed by the municipal elections in April 2017.
Another assembly by-election is scheduled next week. Bypolls, especially in a single seat, generally do not trigger much of interest because they hardly impact the local polity in immediate terms.
But the Bawana by-election, on August 23, is different. The electoral outcome, which will be declared on August 28, is set to be interpreted much beyond the who won, who lost narrative.
The ruling AAP is firmly placed in the Delhi assembly with 65 members in the 70-member house. The BJP-SAD combine has four members. The Congress, which has ruled Delhi for 15 years before the advent of the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, is unrepresented in the sixth Delhi assembly.
The by-election became necessary after AAP legislator Ved Parkash quit the Delhi assembly and went back to the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the municipal elections.
Parkash, a former vice-president of BJP’s youth wing, had defected to AAP just ahead of the 2015 assembly elections.
Parkash is in the fray on a BJP ticket this time. The AAP has fielded party volunteer Ram Chandra, who had contested assembly poll from Bawana in 2008 on a BSP ticket. The Congress has fielded party veteran and three-time MLA from Bawana Surender Kumar.
The gravity of the election could be gauged from the fact that all three parties are leaving no stone unturned to ensure victory for their candidates. All parties named their candidates long before the poll date was announced.
Delhi labour minister and AAP (Delhi) convenor Gopal Rai is stationed with his team for the past two months while top leadership of the party has been campaigning regularly. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has already visited the assembly many times, holding padyatras and addressing small gatherings.
“The election date was announced last month but the party began preparations soon after the municipal elections were announced. Rai became active after he took over the reins of the Delhi unit from Dilip Pandey after the civic polls,” a senior party functionary said.
AAP sources say a positive outcome is much-awaited as it would come after a series of electoral losses, both in Delhi and outside, after its spectacular victory in 2015 when it won 67 seats in 70-member Delhi assembly.
“If the Delhi University students’ union elections in 2016 are included, the party has witnessed reverses in five elections, including Goa, Rajouri Garden and MCD elections. In Punjab, we couldn’t perform as expected,” a senior AAP leader said.
Unlike in Rajouri, party leaders feel, they stand a better chance in Bawana as they had time to prepare for it. “The Rajouri bypoll was sandwiched between Punjab elections and MCD polls,” a party leader said.
The Bawana assembly seat is dotted with 26 rural villages, slum clusters, unauthorised colonies and parts of Rohini sector 20 and 21.
One of the 12 reserved constituencies for Scheduled Castes in the assembly, Bawana has been a Congress stronghold Surender Kumar representing the seat for three consecutive terms (1998, 2003 and 2008).
The BJP represented the seat on the other two occasions (1993 and 20013), while AAP won in 2018.
Banking on its old horse, the Congress is making all efforts to open its account in the assembly.
“The party candidate was announced early and leaders from across the city and other states are working. Organisationally, the assembly segment has been distributed into 111 sectors. One senior leader, including ex-MLA, is taking care of each of these sectors,” a senior Delhi Congress leader said.
With the rural villages lined up across the Haryana border, over a dozen sitting legislators from the neighbouring state are canvassing for the party in Bawana, party sources said. With Jats dominating the rural pockets, senior party leader Sajjan Kumar and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, too, have been campaigning.
The resurgent BJP is making all efforts to continue its winning streak after back-to-back victories in Rajouri and the municipal elections in April, riding on the Modi wave.
Keeping in mind the influence of rural villages in the assembly segment, the party has made west Delhi MP Pravesh Verma, son of former chief minister and Jat leader Shahib Singh Verma, its election in-charge.
Sources said Delhi BJPs’ general secretary (organisation), Siddharthan, has been monitoring the campaigning personally. Delhi BJP chief and North West Lok Sabha member Udit Raj have also hit the ground.
The party, however, is battling with infighting, which could dent its prospects. Former legislator Gugan Singh quit the BJP after being denied a ticket and joined AAP. Former party councillor from Bawana, Narayan Singh also joined AAP.
“Despite the infighting, the party’s campaign gathered steam in the past week. However, Gugan’s exit is a setback as he is a renowned Jatav leader in the area. In 2013, when he won, he garnered around 68,000 votes. Despite the Kejriwal wave in 2015, he secured about 60,000 votes against Parkash,” a Delhi BJP leader said.
The party leaders argued that party leadership should have taken him into confidence before announcing Parkash as candidate.