(1) BJP's negative campaign
The BJP roped in
120 MPs, including several Central Ministers and chief ministers to target AAP
and Kejriwal but the plan failed and instead back-fired on the party. Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed five rallies in the national capital,
kept on accusing Kejriwal of not doing enough without coming up with his
party's blueprint for the national capital. Modi and BJP leaders called
Kejriwal anarchist, Naxals, bhagoda (runaway) and dharna expert which sent out
the message that the party was only interested in name calling. BJP published
cartoons in newspapers on the U-turns by Kejriwal and it hit the lowest point
when the party called him belonging to the 'updravi gothra'. Another
advertisement used caricatures of Kejriwal's children and even had Anna Hazare
in a photo frame with a garland on it which signaled that he was dead. Such
advertisement were turned around by the AAP and used to counter BJP. The BJP
also asked 35 questions to Kejriwal on U-turns made by him on his poll promises
and targeting him for leaving the government in 49 days. When Kejriwal called
the party for a debate, BJP chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi said that
they would debate in the Delhi Assembly.
(2) Kejriwal seen as the tallest
leader
BJP's plan to
target Kejriwal on every issue and from all angles made him the tallest leader
and was seen as martyr by some. A brigade of BJP leaders slammed him from
morning to evening and it actually benefited him. The result was similar to
that of Lok Sabha elections wherein Modi was targeted by all the parties and he
single-handedly took them on.
In Delhi polls, Kejriwal took on both
the national parties reducing the BJP to 3 seats and Congress failing to open
its account. He did not indulge in any negative campaigning and said what
people wanted to hear.
(3) BJP inducts Kiran Bedi, fails to
change party's fortune
Seeing the mood of
the people who were moving towards the AAP, BJP President Amit Shah inducted
former IPS officer Kiran Bedi to take on Kejriwal but the plan failed and she
lost from the party's stronghold constituency Krishna Nagar which was
represented by Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan from 1993 to 2013. Even though
Bedi contested from a safe seat, she failed to garner support for the party and
win over their trust. Having the responsibility to campaign on all the 70
seats, she could not devote much time to her seat. And even her roadshow on the
last day of campaign started without her.
(4) Infighting within the BJP
The coming in of
new faces, sidelining of old-timers and declining them ticket resulted in fierce
infighting within the party which was already badly divided. The situation
turned worse as party workers carried out protest outside Delhi unit office and
some of them contested as Independents leading to division of votes. Party
workers and senior leaders were not actively participating in the campaign and
it left a wrong impression on the voters' mind. Instead of going as a united
body, the BJP looked like a divided front in Delhi polls. BJP parachuted
candidates like Krishna Tirath (Patel Nagar), Vinod Kumar Binny (Pataparganj)
ignoring its own cadre and paid the price for it as all of them lost.
(5) No vision for Delhi
BJP dethered on an
election manifesto for Delhi signalling that party leaders were not sure of the
agenda. Making it worse, an over enthusiastic Bedi tweeted her own 25-point
project for Delhi without consulting her party and it resulted in her party
belatedly coming out with a vision document for the national capital. In a huge
blunder, the party in its vision document called people from North East as
'immigrants'.
(6) BJP failed to address local issue
From top to bottom,
all BJP leaders only targeted the AAP and Kejriwal, and did not focus on any
local issue which concerned the common Delhiite. Even the four rallies
addressed by Modi a week before elections saw meagre crowd wherein he did not
address any local issue or lay down the development plan for the national
capital. On the other hand, the AAP's campaign was more mature focusing of
local issues like water, electricity, corruption, price rise and women
security. The BJP, however, failed to read the mood of the people for whom not
the allegations but the basic necessities matter the most. The party's
inability to fulfil its tall promises made during the Lok Sabha elections
campaign on black money, 'ache din aaenge' (good days ahead), price rise cost
the party dearly. Not witnessing much work done by the Narendra Modi government
on development front and the growing corruption in the BJP-ruled Municipal
Corporation of Delhi, inflated water and electricity bills, people showed their
anger by voting against the BJP in Delhi polls.
(7) BJP decision not to hold Delhi
polls after Lok Sabha elections
BJP swept all the
seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi and led in 60 Assembly segments but surprisingly
failed to hold elections in the national capital after it. A divided BJP was
still wary of winning Delhi which gave time to AAP to consilodate. Even though
Kejriwal fared badly when he made his political debut on the national platform
in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he realized his blunder and devoted all his
energy and resources to lay the road map for success in Delhi by working on the
ground for over six months.
(8) Modi's MPs 'ghar wapsi' campaign
Modi's failure to
control his own MPs who were allegedly forcing people to convert into Hinduism
across the country and calling it 'Ghar Wapsi' created a lot of anger amongst
the people. He also failed to curb attacks on Church hurting the sentiment of
Christians which resulted in the alienation of voters. His MPs also went on to
the extent of asking Hindu women to produce four children, 10 children in order
to protect the religion.
(9) AAP won perception battle
The AAP managed to
win the perception battle by being on ground and striking a chord with 'aam
aadmi' as against BJP. The Rs 10 lakh suit wore by the Prime Minister during US
President Barack Obama's visit raised many fingers as people are demanding
answers on black money. Kejriwal's 'aam aadmi' image wearing a muffler gave
more assurance to people that he will work for them.
(10) Congress wipeout
Not finding much
hope from Congress, the party's votebank shifted to AAP leading to a massive
mandate. The scam tainted tag still remains with the party and with no major
overhaul seen in the party, it is losing one poll after another.
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