Delhi elections will not be about NRC, citizenship law

New Delhi, Jan 21: The elections in Delhi are round the corner and the battle promises to be an interesting one. The question is whether the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will return with a similar mandate as it did in 2015 or will it lose the battle to the BJP.

Leading psephologist, Dr Sandeep Shastri speaks with OneIndia about the trends in Delhi and who has their nose ahead in the elections. He says that looking at the recent trends, it is clear that the voter is making a distinction between national and state elections.

Studies are consistently showing that the AAP is ahead and the people are happy with the performance of the party in the past five years.

The Aam Aadmi Party has done reasonably well particularly in the health and education sector. There is the goodwill that the party has earned on the ground on these issues says, Dr Sandeep Shastri.

The BJP cannot take into account its performance in the Lok Sabha elections, where it won all 7 seats.

I feel that it would be Modi for PM and Kejriwal for CM. The variations between the national and state verdicts will play out in Delhi says, Dr Shastri. As of today, the AAP is ahead, he also says.

On issues such as NRC or citizenship law, the people have their stand on it. But the Delhi elections is not about these issues. The more the BJP makes these issues a campaign slogan, the more likely it would lose support. Issues such as Article 370 did not work for the party in Maharashtra and Haryana.

These issues have ensured that the BJP is in power at the Centre, Dr Shastri says.

On whether the BJP should have announced a CM candidate, he says that it is useful as long as the candidate gets support. Just having a CM face for the heck of it, will not help. Moreover, the BJP's campaign does not revolve around a state face, Dr Shastri adds.

On the prospects of the Congress, he says that the party would end up a distant third. The fight is between two parties and the AAP and the BJP would be the frontrunners, Dr Shastri further states.