NEW DELHI : The decision of who will form the government in Delhi has been captured in the EVM. Voting for Delhi elections has been completed today and now the results are going to come on 8 February. Exit poll figures have also come out before the results. Out of the 9 exit polls that have come out so far, 7 exit polls have projected BJP ahead.
Aam Aadmi Party has been projected ahead in 2 exit polls. That is, 7 exit polls predict that BJP’s 27-year exile in Delhi may end and 2 exit polls predict that Aam Aadmi Party may once again gain power in Delhi.
Will the assembly elections held on Wednesday put an end to the dreams of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party in the national capital? Six out of seven exit polls think so, while only one has given the party almost half a chance. Matriz has predicted a margin of 37 seats for the AAP. Two more than the half-way mark of 35 in the 70-member assembly. The rest are predicting a change of guard. Have Delhi voters switched allegiances from the AAP to the BJP?
Four exit polls have predicted 15 to 35 seats for the party and over 38 to 40 seats for the BJP. Only one, People’s Pulse, has projected a BJP win with 51-60 seats. Overall, the AAP is projected to win 26 and the BJP 43 out of Delhi’s 70 seats. Most pollsters have put the Congress on the sidelines. The Congress is projected to win a maximum of 3 seats.
The AAP has defied the predictions of exit poll agencies. AAP leader Sushil Gupta said, “This is our fourth election and every time the exit polls did not show AAP forming the government in Delhi. Arvind Kejriwal has worked for the people of Delhi. We will see the results in favour of the Aam Aadmi Party and we will form the government.” Though exit polls are not always correct, they correctly predicted AAP’s victory in the last two elections in Delhi.
The exit poll predictions come after an aggressive election campaign by the BJP, which focused entirely on corruption charges against the AAP, the party that came to power riding on Gandhian Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement. In the last two years, most of the AAP leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal and his colleague Manish Sisodia, have spent time in jail on several corruption charges. The Kejriwal government is not only facing allegations of liquor policy scam but also of converting the “Sheesh Mahal” chief minister’s official residence, built at a cost of Rs 33.6 crore, into a plush bungalow. This has taken away the sheen of the AAP that flourished on the basis of its governance record for the better part of the last decade. AAP’s credentials for reforms in the education and healthcare sectors were bolstered by steep discounts on electricity and water bills – a move criticised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “rewdis”.
On the downside, AAP has also been at loggerheads with the lieutenant governor of Delhi, who was given power over bureaucrats through a new law. Faced with huge challenges, this time AAP has gone back to basics, opting for a simple door-to-door campaign, which had served it well in 2015. The outcome will be known on Saturday, when the counting of votes begins in Delhi.

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