Delhi Assembly Elections 2015: AAP Scripts History, Gives Big Jolt to BJP, Wipes Out Congress

Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) scored a landslide victory in the Delhi Assembly elections on February 10 by winning 67 of the 70 seats leaving Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with only three and completely wiping out Congress which failed to win even a single seat – a first. On a vertical slide since May 2014, the Congress hit the rock bottom in the Capital with all its 70 candidates losing the elections. Remember that Congress, which had ruled Delhi for 15 years until December 2013.

A record 67.14 per cent turnout was recorded in the elections on February 7 in which a total of 673 candidates participated. The number of candidates from recognized national and state parties were 296 while 183 candidates belonged to registered parties. There were 194 Independent nominees.

Thought to be a close competitor, the BJP could not garner a double-digit tally, failing miserably to read the signs that were evident from the buzzing AAP poll booths on election day itself. The BJP, which has been out of power in Delhi for the past 16 years, made a gamble by bringing in former IPS officer Kiran Bedi into the party and made her their chief ministerial candidate which is said to have triggered discontent among the party leaders and ranks.

To call the emphatic Delhi win of the AAP merely “historic” is to underestimate the contextual significance of the moment, arguably whose clearest meaning is the contemptuous rejection of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s urgent appeals to the Delhi electorate to vote his party in so that his hands may be strengthened.

Positive Aspect

The surprising part of the result is not the victory of the AAP but the huge margin. This clearly indicates that this is not a negative vote. There are two important reasons for the AAP victory. The first is that a great majority of Delhi – especially the deprived – found the 49-day government to be one which had yielded positive results: petty exactions by police and government personnel had disappeared, electricity and water bills were favorably impacted for the consumer. Retrospectively this seems to have produced a sense that AAP provided a representative party of governance and was not just a party of Opposition.

The second important feature is that AAP not only managed to survive the Lok Sabha verdict but actually consolidated their organization. Elected councilors implemented schemes with their allotted money and the conviction of volunteers was energized again by the Delhi Dialogues which brought them into close contact with local needs of especially the underprivileged and produced local manifestos. All of this brought back the involvement with practical activity and the belief in using the political machinery to serve the nation, which is the real core of the conviction that propels the AAP volunteers.

Political Earthquake

International media have described AAP's stunning electoral triumph over the BJP in Delhi as a "political earthquake," taking a jibe at Prime Minister Modi's meteoric rise to the helm by saying -- "After all, what goes up must come down."

The New York Times dubbed BJP's defeat, less than a year after the party's victory in the polls at the centre, as a "smaller political earthquake." "Less than a year after Modi won a historic victory to become India's new prime minister, a smaller political earthquake struck the capital, as partial results indicated that Modi's governing party had been crushed in local elections by a young political organization led by an anti-corruption campaigner (Kejriwal)," the daily highlighted.

The Washington Post termed it as "stunning defeat" at the hands of the "upstart anti-corruption Common Man Party." "The contest was widely viewed as a measure of Modi's political clout here. The bitterly fought election for control of the legislative assembly mark the first political setback to Modi's BJP since he became prime minister in May 2014," the paper stated.

Advantage Women Candidates

Six women leaders have managed to secure a place in the 70-member House, a meager eight percent even as fairer sex accounts for almost 45 percent of the population in the national capital. There were 63 women candidates in this election as against 71 in 2013.

While as many as 66 women candidates were in fray, all the six winners, who have made it to the Assembly, belong to the AAP. They are Rakhi Birla, Bandna Kumari, Saritha Singh, Alka Lambha, Pramila Tokas and Bhavna Gaur.

Interestingly, the three women candidates elected to the Delhi Assembly in 2013 polls were also from AAP -Birla, Bandana Kumari and Veena Anand.

Birla, who was the Cabinet minister for Women and Child, Social Welfare and Languages in Delhi during AAP's 49-day regime, contested from Mangol Puri constituency in West Delhi and defeated Congress' Raj Kumar Chauhan by 22,699 votes.

Elected as an MLA from the Shalimar Bagh constituency in the 2013 Assembly polls, Bandana Kumari emerged victorious by defeating another woman candidate, BJP's Rekha Gupta.

Alka Lamba, a former leader of Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI) who had joined AAP in 2013, won from Chandni Chowk constituency, defeating yet another women candidate of BJP, Suman Kumar Gupta, by more than 18,000 votes.

Another women who emerged victorious was Parmila Tokas, an independent municipal councilor. She was fielded from RK Puram constituency, where the party had pitted Shazia Ilmi in the last elections. Ilmi left AAP in 2014 and ultimately joined hands with BJP just before the Delhi elections. AAP's student wing president Sarita Singh won from the Rohtash Nagar Assembly constituency with a margin of 7,874 votes.

While women safety, which is a key concern in the national capital, featured widely in various parties' poll manifestos, when it came to fielding women candidates, the they did not opt for them. A total of 19 women candidates were fielded by three major political parties in the contest – AAP, BJP, and Congress.

BJP had given tickets to maximum number of seven women candidates including its chief ministerial nominee Kiran Bedi, former Congress leader Krishna Tirath and youth face Nupur Sharma.

All the six women candidates of AAP emerged victorious. The least number of women candidates was fielded by the Congress which had given tickets to just five.

Assessment

Undoubtedly, people have given a historic mandate to the AAP this time, carrying it on its shoulders to an absolute majority in the Assembly. This is a sign that people do not want pomp and show, and show of power, but results.

It is a vote not just in favor of Kejriwal but also against the arrogant Modi-Amit Shah duo. The Shah strategy of winning elections has failed. In fact, BJP-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers were annoyed by top-down decision making. An outsider, Bedi's choice as a chief ministerial candidate was a mistake the leadership still does not accept.

Coming on top of a massive hype, the one thing BJP has delivered is a disturbing communal atmosphere in the country and little else that might be tangible. Judging from the kind of people who voted AAP, this factor may just have been decisive, with the middle class intelligentsia making the difference on the margin. The disaster the BJP has encountered would place it on the back foot in the coming state election over the next two years.

Lokpal Bill: Political Parties, NGOs Come Under Scanner

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-led federal government has finally introduced in the Lok Sabha the much-debated Lokpal Bill. The Bill envisages creation of anti-graft institutions at the central as well as state levels with a provision for including marginalised minorities and other sections as members.
The government also introduced a separate bill for amending the constitution to confer constitutional status to the proposed institutions.
About New Bill
The all new Lokpal Bill has provisions to probe corruption charges not just against the prime minister and ministers but also against managers, secretaries and directors of religious institutions and political parties that receive donations from the public.
The new clause appears to imply that the Lokpal can inquire into complaints of corruption against managers of temples, gurdwaras, mosques and churches, even sports clubs or any other association which accepts donations from the public.
All NGOs that receive annual grants of more than Rs 10 lakhs under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 will be under the Lokpal and so will all political parties, because they also receive donations from the people. The catch-all clause would conveniently cover Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) like Parivartan,which Arvind Kejriwal, member of Team Anna, heads and even the NGO being run by another Anna colleague Kiran Bedi and others that reportedly receive funds under FCRA.
But the government has ensured some balance in the provision by offering the coverage of political parties as well. A political party under RPA 1951 is defined as “an association or a body of individual citizens of India registered with the Election Commission as a political party under Section 29 A.” The clause is wide enough to cover all sports clubs or any group of people working for any cause.
Salient Features
* The Lokpal's writ will extend to the Prime Minister (with some exclusions), Ministers, current and former MPs (except in respect of what they say or how they vote in the House), and group A, B, C, and D officers and officials of the Central government.
* Fifty per cent of the members of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas shall be from amongst Scheduled Castes (SCs)/ Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and women. “Minorities” was added to this quota in the corrigenda circulated to MPs shortly before the introduction.
* NGOs and institutions receiving donations of more than Rs. 10 lakhs per annum from foreign sources will also be covered.
* Lokpal to have constitutional status and be accountable to Parliament
Though some of the suggestions made by social activist Anna Hazare and his supporters find reflection in the new draft, the UPA government's Lokpal continues to differ on several key points from Team Anna's version:
* Government nominees have a majority of one on the selection committee, which will choose the Lokpal's chairperson and eight members
* The CBI will continue to remain under the administrative control of the government and not the Lokpal.
* The judiciary and the citizens' charter are not part of the Lokpal but will be covered by other laws
Provisions Under Old Bill
The old Bill covered the prime minister only after he demitted office and bureaucrats of under secretary level and above. But the new draft law covers all Group A, B, C, D public servants, allowing the Lokpal to inquire corruption by lower bureaucracy, as sought by Team Anna. Others covered are MPs (except for conduct inside Parliament), ministers, government funded associations and NGOs receiving over Rs 10 lakh annual funding under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.
The new Bill comes quite close (except on the issue of citizen’s charter) to the ‘Sense of the House’ statement issued on August 28 at the height of Anna’s agitation. The statement had stated, “The Houses agree in principle that an effective Lokpal law must cover corruption by lower bureaucracy through appropriate mechanisms, have an in-built grievance redress system and provide enabling laws to establish Lokayuktas in states.”
The present Bill (unlike the old one) provides for Lokayuktas and the Constitutional (116th) Amendment Bill, 2011, introduced, mandates states to adopt Central Lokpal and Lokayuktas law, a provision Sushma Swaraj slammed as anti-federal and an encroachment on the rights of the states, some of which already have Lokayuktas.
Although the Lokpal will have its own Inquiry and Prosecution wings and won’t require prosecution sanction, it would not control the CBI as Anna wanted. It can ask the CBI for preliminary inquiry (PE) and investigation into complaints but the Bill clarifies, “Lokpal will have powers of superintendence over Delhi Special Police Establishment (CBI) in respect of matters referred to it for PE or investigation and can’t direct it to conduct inquiry in a particular manner.”
The Bill says the Lokpal will, after deciding on PE, refer complaints against all government officers to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). While the CVC will submit a report to Lokpal for prosecution of Group A/B officers, for Group C/D public servants, it will conduct its own prosecution under the CVC Act, 2003, and send periodic action taken reports to Lokpal. This recommendation was made by Congressman Abhishek Manu Singhvi-led parliamentary panel?s December 9 report on the Lokpal Bill.
The Bill also does not have an inbuilt grievance redress system as Anna wanted. It makes the Lokpal and Lokayuktas final appellate authorities in cases of non-delivery of public service due to corruption but doesn’t guarantee service delivery through Lokpal.
Opposition Against the Bill
Several parties, including the main Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, and the Shiv Sena, the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the AIADMK opposed introduction of the Bill in the current form. The RJD, the SP, and the AIADMK were also opposed to bringing the Prime Minister within the purview of the Lokpal which, they contended, would not be “accountable” to anyone. They were also vociferous in their opposition to a provision which made it mandatory for States to set up Lokayuktas, contending it was an infringement on the “federal structure” and encroachment on the powers of a State government.
The problem, though, now lies outside it. If Hazare's efforts have brought the Lokpal issue where it has now, it would be unfortunate if the same Mr Hazare, out of some millennial spite that mistakes accommodation for weakness, sets off on a different agenda altogether. For at stake here is not who won and who didn't - defining which is about politics, not law-making - but whether a necessary anti-corruption law.

Indian Parliament Accepts Anna Hazare's Demands

After being reviled for its self-serving ways and incorrigible politicking, the political class delivered when it mattered. Displaying an unerring big-day temperament, political parties surpassed themselves as Parliament gave Anna Hazare a massive victory.
Sensing the public mood, political egos were largely in check. MPs drove home the humbling knowledge that politicians were lagging their constituents. The leaders had become the led.
Agreed Points
After over eight hours of debate around the structure of the Lokpal Bill, the Government and the Opposition in both the Lok Sabha (lower house of the Parliament) and Rajya Sabha (upper house of the Parliament) came together to agree “in-principle” to the three major demands the activist had raised in his letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 26 August as a condition to end his protest.
In doing so, the Parliament, which sat for the longest hours this monsoon session today, paved the way for the Gandhian to end his fast. Anna responded late night after government’s emissary and minister Vilasrao Deshmukh announced the day’s developments amid cheering and roaring crowds at the Ramlila Grounds. “We have won the battle but the war remains. This is your victory. I will end the fast tomorrow in the presence of all of you,” Anna said to his supporters.
Earlier, the two Houses agreed that the anti-graft law, to be effective, must cover corruption by lower bureaucracy through appropriate mechanisms; must have an inbuilt grievance redress system which Anna calls the citizens’ charter and should provide for enabling laws to establish Lokayuktas in states on the lines of the Lokpal at the Centre.
The debate ended amidst members thumping their desks to applaud the agreement which Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee summed up as “the sense of two Houses” which would now be conveyed to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice for its consideration.
Hazare Breaks 12-Day-Long Protest Fast
A day after his 12-day-long fast for a strong Lokpal culminated into a victory for both the civil society as well as Parliament, anti-corruption crusader Hazare on Sunday ended his hunger strike. Anna broke his fast by drinking coconut water with honey, given to him by two girls - five-year-old Simran and Ikra.
Addressing the crowd at Ramlila Maidan after ending his fast, the social activist described it as a victory of every Indian. He also described it as a victory of the media for waking up the people of this country.
Vowing his fight will continue, the Gandhian said the anti-corruption movement was a lesson for the world to learn as to how to wage a nonviolent battle. Anna said the movement instilled trust in us that we can remove corruption from this country.
Asking people to be alert and keep a watch on the Lokpal process, Anna said the movement would have to restart if Parliament fails to pass a strong Lokpal Bill. Anna said it is the power of the people that made Parliament take a decision on Lokpal.
Leaders’ Reactions
Some leaders did hit back at civil society, warning that calling politicians names could draw retaliatory action. Others blamed the media's 24x7 focus for nurturing the agitation. But most were quick to accept that the people's anger was real and needed to be seen as genuine disgust with corruption.
Congress and BJP leaders, who usually do not pass up a chance to have a go at each other, seriously addressed the question of accountability in public life. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee set the tone by saying MPs should carefully consider the implication of their views but not fail to seize the moment at hand.
In the Rajya Sabha, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said Anna's campaign had outlined relevant demands and reminded the House that democracy could not be so lethargic as to not pass the Lokpal bill 42 years after it was first proposed. CPM's Sitaram Yechury pointed to the need to match intent with practicability. In the Lok Sabha, Congress's Sandeep Dikshit spoke of the urgent need to end Anna's fast.
Some MPs were candid enough to agree that the phenomenon was not limited to Mumbai and Delhi. "We are all getting phone calls from our constituents asking why are we not talking about this," said BJP's Varun Gandhi, MP for Philibhit, in an extempore speech.
Even Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav's caustic reference to Team Anna member Kiran Bedi's antics and a side-splitting description of how relentless media pressure of the "dabba" (TV) was depriving leaders of their sleep, carried more than a degree of self-deprecation. Politicians, he suggested, had asked for it.
For a discussion that revolved around deeply contentious matters impacting India's federal structure -- usually much less can ignite state sensibilities -- there were not too many interruptions or cat calls in Parliament. Even regular disrupters like Congress's Lal Singh seemed taken in by the gravity of the occasion.
Most speakers had worked hard on their speeches. MPs did not slip into unnecessary hyperbole and stuck to the substance of what was at hand. For a class that has been under fire and subject to most dismissive treatment, they did not fling the muck back.
There was the cut and thrust of politics as Opposition leaders reminded Congress of how a string of scams had created the space for Anna's movement and given it unprecedented legitimacy. There were retaliatory barbs about how the National Democratic Allaince record was not squeaky clean either.
All quarters in Parliament seemed to realize the challenge they face is much larger than one of factional identities. It was not the time to settle internecine scores. The relevance of Parliament itself was questioned. On 27 August, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha posted a thumping riposte.

Indian Government, Anna Hazare Reach Agreement

After two nights in Tihar Jail and hard bargaining, Anna Hazare and Indian Government reached an agreement on early morning of 18 August under which Delhi Police removed all restrictions and allowed him to carry out his hunger strike for a fortnight in the spacious Ramlila Maidan, Delhi. The breakthrough in the battle of attribution between the two sides came in the wee hours of the day after top aides of Hazare met Delhi Police Commissioner Brijesh Gupta and reached an agreement.
The deal marks a major climb down from government and police's earlier insistence that the fast would be allowed at J.P. Park, a smaller venue, only for three days with maximum of 5,000 protesters in addition to a number of other conditions.
Result of Hard Negotiations
The agreement came more than 40 hours after Hazare's arrest of 16 August and release the same night. However, the Gandhian refused to come out of the jail, continued his fast and carried out hard negotiations from Tihar through his emissaries.
Activist Kiran Bedi tweeted that Hazare has accepted the Delhi Police offer of 15 days and announced that he will go to Ramlila Maidan after 1500.
However, another close aide of the 73-year-old Gandhian said this morning that it may not be possible for Hazare to launch his protest from the Ramlila Ground Thursday as the venue was full of muck and needs cleaning up.
Confirming the deal, Home Secretary R K Singh said: ‘Delhi Police and Anna Hazare Team have agreed on the venue, duration, conditions etc.’
‘Delhi Police and the Anna Hazare team worked out between themselves this agreement. The Delhi Police has no problem in giving 15 days time and the 15 days also suits the Anna Team,’ he said.
Kejriwal said Hazare does not want to go before proper arrangements are made at the fast venue because once the crowd gather, it would be difficult to put in place proper facilities.
He stated that arrangements like erection of tents and provision of drinking water facilities were being made. He said that Hazare's health was perfectly all right and doctors from Medanta Medicity headed by Naresh Trehan have already checked him and certified him fit.
Last night, Hazare refused a check up by doctors from GB Pant Hospital apprehending that they may remove him from the jail on health grounds.
Asserting that the government has bowed down to people's pressure, Kejriwal said: ‘We have just entered the battle, a long fight remains.’
He appealed to the government to give a chance to the Jan Lokpal [Ombudsman bill] draft prepared by the civil society for Parliament to discuss.
‘People have a right to say what draft will go to Parliament. They are supreme in democracy,’ he said rejecting government's contention that civil society cannot make law. Kejriwal also attacked the government for the arrest of Hazare and seven of his associates, including himself, on the morning of Tuesday and the decision to release all of them within hours.
He also disputed government's contention that the police did not seek remand of Hazare and others and that it was the decision of the executive magistrate's decision to remand them to seven days judicial custody.
‘First they arrested us on the ground that we will disturb peace. Police asked us to give a written undertaking that we will not go to JP Park. But we told them we will go there soon after our release. Then they asked for seven days custody,’ he said.
Kejriwal said there was a need for a debate over police power to detain and release people at will. ‘They say we are bad but how in two hours, we have become alright?...Are we toys? What kind of law and order and democracy is this?’
Hazare credited the people of India for this ‘victory’ and thanked them and thousands of people who took to the streets in a non-violent way throughout the country, he said quoting the Gandhian.
He said violence occurs only in rallies of political parties not in the campaign of Hazare. ‘This only shows the government will have to bow before the demands of the people,’ he said.
Former Law Minister and Hazare associate Shanti Bhushan said the decision to allow Hazare to fast for 15 days showed that his demands were reasonable and that the government should bring in a new Lokpal Bill after consulting the Gandhian.
Provisions of Lokpal Bill
He claimed the provisions of the Lokpal Bill put forward by the Hazare team were ‘totally’ Constitutional. ‘I can certify that they are Constitutional and I think it would be wise for the government to withdraw the (present) bill from Parliament and move a fresh bill after talking to Anna.’
Meanwhile, Hazare's supporters gathered outside Tihar Jail to greet the news of government agreeing to the demands of the Gandhian.
As supporters started pouring in chanting anticorruption slogans, about 250 Delhi police personnel were deployed to provide security around Tihar, while another 200 men in uniform were kept on standby.
Bomb disposal teams and dog squads conducted a surprise check outside Tihar Jail, soon after the Anna Hazare team announced that the Gandhian would move out of the prison to launch his anti-corruption protest at Ramlila Maidan.
The teams descended outside the jail, where Hazare supporters were camping to express solidarity with the social activist, at around 0330 and conducted a thorough check and sanitized the area.