How Vikas Won

AAP’s landslide victory in delhi proves that even in a polarised environment, development is a credible bet in elections

- Kaushik Deka

On February 11, thanking voters for giving his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) a second consecutive landslide mandate in the Delhi assembly election, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the victory indicated the birth of a new politics in India—the ‘politics of performance’. For sure, AAP’s 62-seat haul is a vindication of his party’s governance record in its first full term, but it’s equally an endorsement of his electoral pitch, his tactical smarts in the face of a viciously polarising campaign run by the BJP. On January 6, he had appealed to the people: “Vote for us (AAP) only if you think we have done good work in the past five years.”

Kejriwal’s confidence to seek votes on the basis of performance came from his government’s focus on issues directly touching the lives of a majority of Delhi’s residents—education, healthcare, transport and, above all, delivery of government services in a corruption-free environment. The AAP government not only improved the infrastructure of government schools but also tangibly enhanced their quality of education. It also put a stop to arbitrary fee hikes by private schools, through auditing of the accounts of all schools built on government allotted land. The Mohalla Clinic initiative, which provides free healthcare to the masses, has been lauded by the likes of former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan and Gro Harlem Brundtland, former director-general of the World Health Organization. To eliminate corruption in government departments and promote ease of doing business, the Kejriwal administration introduced doorstep delivery of 70 government services, including caste, income, domicile and marriage certificates.