Delhiites will vote on December 4 to choose who will rule their municipality, an intense electoral battle that will see the AAP and the BJP locking horns again for supremacy in the capital’s politics.
This fight will run parallel to both parties fighting in the Gujarat Assembly elections. Congress will be contesting the municipal poll to regain its political capital in Delhi, which it once ruled before being decimated by the AAP in 2013.
The municipal polls, which comes after the Centre merged three corporations in April this year, is crucial for AAP and BJP, which are at loggerheads, as it would be like a referendum on Arvind Kejriwal’s governance model.
Failure to win municipal polls would dent AAP’s future prospects and its opponents could argue that the Kejriwal model is flawed. It would also put a brake on AAP’s confidence to break new grounds, which would help its opponents like the BJP.
"Voting for the municipal polls in Delhi will be held on December 4 while the results will be announced on December 7. The filing of nominations will begin from November 7 and the last date for the same is November 14," State Election Commissioner Vijay Dev said.
The Model Code of Conduct came into force immediately after the schedule was announced. Half of the 250 wards have been reserved for women while another 42 have been earmarked for Scheduled Castes.
AAP supremo and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal fired the first salvo by tweeting, "In the last 15 years, BJP has spread garbage everywhere and created mountains of garbage. On December 4, Delhiites will vote for cleanliness. They will vote to make Delhi beautiful. This time, Delhiites will choose the AAP in MCD."
The BJP has indicated that it will not be repeating 60-70 per cent of its sitting councillors, as the three main parties started working on choosing candidates and planning their strategy.
Parties are also likely to have trouble selecting candidates as the number of wards has been reduced from 272 (in three municipalities) to 250 when it was unified into one.
The three municipal corporations were unified earlier this year, leading to the postponement of elections in April. In the 2017 polls, BJP won 64 out of 104 seats in North Delhi, 70 out of 104 in South Delhi and 47 out of 64 in East while AAP had 21, 16 and 12 respectively. Congress had 16, 12 and three seats respectively. Altogether, BJP won 181, AAP 49 and Congress 31.
AAP now believes that it can win the civic bodies, riding on Kejriwal and his government's achievements on the power and water fronts as well as facilities like mohalla clinics. However, it is to be seen how the aggressive BJP campaign based on CBI cases on excise policy and other cases will impact AAP.
Privately, Congress leaders too concede that the AAP now has an edge and they fear that they would be further relegated to insignificance in the capital's political landscape, where it has not managed to win a single Assembly or Lok Sabha seat since 2014.
AAP has been systematically stepping up its campaign on the functioning of the BJP-ruled municipalities, especially on garbage disposal. It has appointed young MLA and Kejriwal confidante Durgesh Pathak as in charge.
BJP, on the other hand, is countering the AAP publicity onslaught with its state leaders taking the lead.
Though on the decline, Congress has not lost hope and has started early. Delhi Congress chief Anil Kumar had earlier this year initiated a process to decide on candidates early and asked people to submit their applications so that a fast decision is taken allowing nominees to start campaigning.