Stage Set for Delhi Showdown

The 2025 Assembly Elections Promise a Crucial Contest with Welfare Schemes, Political Legacies on the Line

- ASHISH SRIVASTAVA

The New Year promises no little suspense as we draw closer to the crucial contest that will shape the political contours of the Capital in the years to come. Less than two months from now, the country's biggest, oldest, and youngest national parties face off in a triangular contest to determine their command in the Delhi Assembly. The first two, the BJP and the Congress respectively, would share a rare common agenda - defeating the 'nascent' AAP, the party that has commanded a sheer majority in the past two consecutive assemblies.

The political landscape is charged with promises and strategies as the major contenders go tooth and nail to secure a majority. The polls are poised to be a litmus test for governance models in the capital city; its outcomes will determine the capital's trajectory in the coming years. Each party is employing a cocktail of welfare schemes, promises of 'development', and targeted attacks on their rivals to influence the electorate.

'All aboard the welfare train'

Arvind Kejriwal is keen to put 2023 behind him, a year that brought him nothing but turmoil. The citizen observer can only assume he has had time to introspect during his five months in jail, culminating in his premature exit from the Office of the Chief Minister. Now, an embattled Kejriwal returns with even fairer poll promises to steer the contest towards a front that he knows all too well: a welfare agenda.

The tried and tested 'direct cash transfer' to the female electorate makes a return as the proposed Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana promising a monthly allowance for women from households earning less than ₹3 lakh annually. 'Eligible women would receive ₹2,100 upon AAP's reelection,' Kejriwal says; 'Financial independence of women is our priority.'