Fledgling Common Man’s Party routs ruling BJP in India election

A fledgling, anti-establishment political party yesterday humiliated India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in elections to the legislative assembly in the federal capital New Delhi.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – or Common Man's Party – secured 67 of 70 seats in Delhi's assembly following a campaign led by former tax collector Arvin Kejriwal.

The BJP secured the remaining three seats in one of India’s most decisive electoral victories since the country’s first elections in 1952.

With limited resources, AAP volunteers canvassed extensively, promising to end endemic corruption at all levels of government.

Security for women

It promised security to women in what is India’s rape capital and to resolve a myriad of problems such as poor education and healthcare facilities, pollution and traffic gridlock.

AAP's triumph also smashed the aura of political invincibility around prime minister Narendra Modi, who swept to power last May and subsequently enjoyed three successive provincial legislative assembly victories.

Delhi is a high-profile city state of some 20 million people, and its state assembly elections are keenly watched countrywide. The BJP had hoped to make a comeback there, having lost power in Delhi 15 years ago to the Congress Party.

Consequently, in a surprise move that upset its members and proved electorally disastrous, the party fielded Kiran Bedi, India’s first woman police officer and a former Kejriwal ally, as its candidate for the Delhi chief minister’s role.

Ms Bedi, who lost her seat, apologised to her party’s leadership and workers for the defeat. “I could not live up to their expectations,” she said.

The 130-year-old Congress Party, the BJP’s principal challenger nationally, was unable to win a seat, highlighting the declining fortunes of the Gandhi dynasty that still leads it.

“Such a big mandate is very scary and we should live up to people’s expectations,” Mr Kejriwal told jubilant AAP supporters, wearing their trademark boat-shaped white caps as they danced, beat drums and set off fireworks in celebration.

Concentration of power

Political analysts have said the anti-BJP vote was against the near-total concentration of absolute power in Mr Modi, who over the past eight months has been running a dictatorial and presidential form of government, paying little heed to his cabinet.

“Delhi’s vote is against the monopoly of power politics. It is a reaction against the fear of a perceived monopoly by Modi over India’s political geography,” said commentator Sheela Bhatt. Indian voters, she added, abhor the concentration of power in one person, even a popular leader such as Mr Modi.

The BJP’s loss in Delhi has also dented Mr Modi’s popularity, as he assumed custody for its success and held five major rallies in the city where he called Mr Kejriwal an anarchist and Maoist.

Mr Modi has also been descibed on social media as “obsessed” and “narcissistic” after he wore a €14,000 suit embroidered all over with his name to a meeting with US president Barack Obama in Delhi last month. And although he has tried to push through reform legislation by executive decree after being blocked in parliament by the opposition, corporate investment has yet to be revived as the need for wider structural economic reforms persists.

There have also been social tensions over hardline Hindu groups associated with the BJP bcarrying out forced Muslim conversions.