BJP eats into a key AAP voter base

A wave of mixed sentiments swept across several JJ (Jhuggi Jhopri), or slum, clusters spread across the national capital as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Delhi assembly elections on Saturday after an intense poll battle with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to return to power after 27 years.

- Aheli Das and Varun Bhandari

The JJ clusters have been a strong AAP vote bank for the last 10 years, but the BJP was trying to make inroads in these regions through a sustained campaign over the past month.

Vimla Devi, 52, from Arjun camp in Mahipalpur, said, "I voted for Kejriwal so naturally I am a little upset. But the thing is I do not mind any party coming into power as long as they do something for the people, especially the poor in the city. Now that BJP is in power, let us see if they do any work and if they actually do, then we will vote for them next election."

Others in the camp seemed to be more divided about BJP's win --some celebrated while others mourned the loss of the AAP.

Sunil Sharma, 57, described the change it is the "best thing to happen to Delhi" in the last 10 years. "We will now get health facilities in our old age, someone will take care of us," he said, sipping his tea.

But his statement seemed to upset his friends sitting at the same stall.