Delhi election 2020: Will AAP regain the faith of Aam Aadmi?

New Delhi, Jan 07: The 2020 Delhi elections is key for the the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as it looks to form a government for a second consecutive term.

In 2015, the party decimated the opposition, with an unprecedented 67 of 70 Assembly constituencies with a promise of corruption-free transparent government.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been out of power in the state for 20 years, hopes to repeat its stellar performance in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress is up for a battle for survival and to regain its lost political glory.

As many as 1.46 crore voters of Delhi will cast their votes on February 8 to decide who will govern the national capital.

AAP aims to make history by being voted back to power on the back of his governance record.

"Give us vote only if you think that we have done work. We deserve to come back in power only if you think we have done good work," Kejriwal appealed to the voters soon after the announcement of election dates.

On the other hand, BJP chief Amit Shah and Union minister Prakash Javadekar, who is BJP in-charge for the Delhi polls, have also accused Kejriwal of failing to fulfil any major promise he had made in the 2015 polls, asserting that it will also be a major election issue.

Kejriwal banks on a mix of populist schemes and personal appeal to repulse the saffron challenge to Aam Aadmi Party in the February 8 assembly polls.

Here we take a look at the issues that may affect Delhi elections

Rising prices

The soaring prices of onion, vegetables, LPG cylinders, pulses, cereals, edible oils, flour, bread and butter may prove to be one of the key issues for the AAP. The Kejriwal-led party will be on a safer side, if the electorate are able to distinguish, like they did in 2015 between state and centre policies.

Prices of milk, onion, pulses were already on a high and now packaged foods such as oil, butter and bread have also become dearer by 20-30%.

Student protests

Violence at various Delhi universities like Jamia Millia Islamia University and the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) also likely to play key role.

While BJP has accused the AAP of instigating protests, Kejriwal has condemned the protests and questioned the timing of the amendments in the citizenship law.

Kejriwal has, however, avoided to confront the BJP on national issues. He has been muted in his criticism of the CAA, while vowing to fight the polls on local matters and governance.

Kejriwal vs Who

The AAP has named Arvind Kejriwal its CM face the Opposition BJP and Congress are yet to announce their CM candidate for the elections.

For the BJP, names such as Manoj Tiwari, Hardeep Puri and Harsh Vardhan have been doing rounds.

The saffron party hinted that the party will rely on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity. "It will be Kejriwal vs the people."

This might turn out to be a plus for the AAP during the campaign.

Traffic and transport

Delhiites are more worried about inadequate public transport facilities in the state. The Delhi government had promised that 9,500 buses by 2020. But failed to reach the target as there are only 6,000.

Delhi has been categorised the most unsafe city of India, with nearly 40% of rapes, 33% of crimes against women.

The latest data from "Crime in India" report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) topped the state in cases of murder, abduction, juveniles in conflict with law and economic offences for that year.

Toxic air

Pollution, taxic air has taken centre stage perhaps for the first time in Indian democracy. AAP has said the pollution level dropped by 25 per cent in 2016-18 over the period 2012-14.

The air pollution in the city became so toxic after Diwali fetivities that the govt declared public health emergency in the Delhi-NCR and had advised people, especially children and the aged, to limit their exposure to the environment.

While the AAP has blamed the stubble burning in neighbouring states, the Delhi Congress has reminded the people the steps taken by the previous Sheila Dikshit-led government in her 15-year term to control pollution.

The BJP too is attacking the AAP over the air pollution.

The Aam Aadmi Party, the BJP and the Congress had won 54, 32 and nine per cent votes respectively in the 2015 assembly polls, as Kejriwal led his fledgling party to an unprecedented victory bagging 67 seats in the 70-member assembly.

The BJP was reduced to three seats, suffering its first electoral shock following its string of wins in state polls after Prime Minister Narendra Modi led it to a historic 2014 Lok Sabha win.

The election to the 70-member Delhi Assembly will take place on February 8 and results will be declared on February 11.