New Delhi: Muslim voters in riots-affected areas of north-east Delhi largely voted for the Congress in the Municipal Company of Delhi (MCD) elections. This was construed in political circles as indicators of the minority neighborhood’s disillusionment with Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Occasion (AAP) for its refusal to talk up on points regarding them.
AAP bagged the bulk within the civic physique polls Wednesday, profitable in 134 of the whole 250 wards. The BJP gained 104 and the Congress 9. Three have been gained by Impartial candidates.
Of the Congress’ 9 seats, seven have been in riot-hit areas in north-east and south-west Delhi. Six of the seven are Muslim-dominated, based on authorities information.
The Congress wrested three Muslim-dominated wards — Chauhan Banger (Shagufta Chaudhary Zubair), Mustafabad (Sabila Begum) and Abul Fazal Enclave (Ariba Khan) — from AAP. The opposite Muslim-dominated wards the Congress gained included Zakir Nagar (Nazia Danish), Shastri Park (Sameer Ahmed) and Kabir Nagar (Zarif).
Though AAP did win in lots of wards with substantial Muslim voter base — for example, Chand Mahal, Jama Masjid and Ballimaran — the minority neighborhood in riots-affected areas and within the south-east exhibiting a desire for the Congress signalled rising unease and disillusionment with the AAP, which has been cautious of elevating points regarding the neighborhood as a method to counter the BJP.
“A large variety of Muslim votes have shifted from the AAP to Congress. This seems to be a rebound response due to Kejriwal’s refusal to take a agency stand on Delhi Riots or on the CAA-NRC protest. So, there are Muslim population-dominated areas which have opted to vote for Congress,” political analyst Rasheed Kidwai informed ThePrint.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s silence on the discharge of Bilkis Bano’s rape convicts, Shaheen Bagh anti-Citizenship (Modification) Act (CAA) protests, the Nizamuddin Markaz incident in the course of the pandemic and his muted and belated response in the course of the 2020 north-east Delhi riots didn’t appear to have gone down effectively with Muslim voters.
They was once a conventional vote financial institution of the Congress however had shifted to the AAP from 2015 meeting elections.
Chauhan Banger (that has subsumed Jafrabad) and Mustafabad fall within the north-east Delhi space that was hit by riots in 2020. An Impartial candidate Shakila Begum, a former Bahujan Samaj Occasion (BSP) councilor, gained in Seelampur, one other ward within the space that noticed the worst of the violence.
Alternatively, Abul Fazal Enclave’s Shaheen Bagh had develop into the epicenter of anti-CAA protest in 2019, the place CM Kejriwal’s remarks over how if the police have been beneath the AAP Delhi authorities’s management, he would have eliminated the protestors inside two hours, had upset the minority neighborhood.
The AAP, as compared, has six Muslim councilors, two of which — Aaley Mohammed Iqbal from Chandani Mahal and Sultana Abad from Jama Masjid — had earlier switched from the Congress.
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‘MCD election not a sign for every other massive election’
Political analyst, Badri Narayan, director on the GB Pant Social Science Institute, Prayagraj, mentioned that it was troublesome to say whether or not the AAP’s Muslim voters’ base had shifted to Congress or not but when it was the pattern then that may solely profit the BJP.
“If Muslim voters come to the Congress, it is going to be a bonus to BJP as it could be chopping into AAP’s votes. However we’ve got to remember the fact that the MCD election isn’t a sign for every other massive election. Its outcomes wouldn’t have an effect on the outcomes of different extra vital elections,” he mentioned.
Through the MCD election marketing campaign, the Congress leaders had attacked the AAP chief for “not supporting Muslims” to courtroom votes within the wards dominated by the neighborhood. Former Chandni Chowk MLA and considered one of Congress social gathering’s star campaigners Alka Lamba mentioned in considered one of her public conferences that at the very least the BJP was clear about its divisive politics, whereas CM Kejriwal had hit Muslims within the again.
“Who maintained silence over the wrongful launch of the rapists of Bilkis Bano or the Delhi riots and the CAA-NRC (clashes)? Who had made Tablighi Jamaat notorious? It was him,” she had mentioned within the Jama Masjid ward.
Equally, when requested a few potential shift of Muslim votes from AAP to Congress within the election outcomes, senior Congress chief and Former DPCC (Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee) President Subhash Chopra informed ThePrint that it was lower than what they’d anticipated since Arvind Kejriwal had not even accomplished one good factor for the Muslims.
“Within the meeting election, they voted for Kejriwal, and now they’ve realised this man has not accomplished something good for the neighborhood. See he’s giving subsidies as a substitute, on free electrical energy — why not give that cash to the DISCOMS? They each (BJP and AAP) attacked one another with out having something optimistic to point out and the media ran with it. If media will present 24 hours that the principle battle is between BJP and AAP, then that’s what might be registered within the minds of the voters,” he mentioned.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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