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| Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal [PHOTO: TY/CC BY-SA 3.0] |
(@yogesh_pande901)
India’s poll equations are fraught with inevitable intricacies of caste and religion politics. This time too it is going to be manifest in much talked forthcoming Delhi elections where country’s political newbie Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have much at stake.
More than caste factors, it is minority votes set to come handy for parties jockeying for Delhi’s chair.
As per rough estimates, Muslims constitute around 15 per cent of Delhi voters. Also, the community has sway over 10 assembly seats out of total 70.
Here are four reasons why minorities are going to vote for the AAP:
#1. Recent controversies over conversions and perceived anti-minority statements made by BJP leaders have further alienated the community from the BJP.
#2. Last assembly elections saw majority of Muslim voters in the absence of any ‘viable’ alternative going for its traditional party Congress. Now with the Congress not in the scene, the Muslim voters have alternative in the form of Kejriwal, who is also making frequent overtures.
#3. Speculations were rife couple of months back about AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) eyeing entry in Delhi. But as the party is yet to come clean on it and has not been able take a decision, the AAP is surely going to be benefited.
#4. The weakening of Congress and Muslim voters’ traditional aversion to BJP and Narendra Modi are enough to make AAP a sole recipient of their trust.
Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party after suffering the BJP’s onslaught in 2014 general elections in Delhi, where despite high hopes the party drew blank is leaving no stone unturned to retain the lost glory.
No doubt the party will have to repeat the performance of 2013 when it surprised others by winning 28 seats riding on the anti-corruption wave.
BJP on the other hand is well aware of the fact that Delhi is not going to be a cakewalk, thanks to capital’s well-known uneven voting pattern and AAP’s rigorous electioneering.
