Vikrant Shekhawat : Feb 03, 2025, 07:40 PM
Delhi Election 2025: Today is the last day of campaigning for the Delhi Assembly elections and the campaign will end at six in the evening. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal adopted the Mission-Delhi strategy by handing over the Chief Minister's post to Atishi in September. For the last four and a half months, he has been constantly trying to create an atmosphere in favor of the Aam Aadmi Party, but kept a distance from Muslim-dominated areas. The special thing is that this time too he did not campaign on any Muslim-dominated seat, while Aam Aadmi Party candidates are in the fray from these seats.Out of 70 seats in Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party has fielded Muslim candidates on 5 seats. In the 2015 and 2020 elections, the party had won all the Muslim-dominated seats, despite this, Kejriwal did not reach these areas for campaigning this time too. The question arises that what is the strategy behind this?Delhi has about 13 percent Muslim voters and 8 assembly seats are considered Muslim-dominated. Aam Aadmi Party has fielded Muslim candidates in Ballimaran, Seelampur, Okhla, Mustafabad and Matia Mahal, where Muslim voters are 45 to 60 percent. Aam Aadmi Party is expected to face tough competition from Congress and AIMIM on these seats.The 2020 Delhi Assembly elections were held under the shadow of the CAA-NRC movement, but even then Muslim voters unitedly supported Kejriwal. However, this time the election situation has changed. Aam Aadmi Party is having to work hard, yet Kejriwal has kept distance from campaigning in Muslim areas.In this election, the issues of Tablighi Jamaat and Delhi riots are dominating in Muslim-dominated areas. Congress and AIMIM are raising these issues loudly, which has made the situation challenging for Aam Aadmi Party. Muslim candidates of Aam Aadmi Party have to handle the field on their own, while leaders like Sanjay Singh and Mehraj Malik are handling the responsibility of campaigning from the party's side.Why did they maintain distance?In this election, Muslim voters are confused about political parties and their candidates. There is resentment in the Muslim community due to the attitude of Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi riots and Tablighi Jamaat case.Muslim voters are showing inclination towards Congress and AIMIM, due to which Kejriwal refrained from campaigning in these seats. If he had come out for campaigning, he could have faced protests and negative reactions. This is the reason why he has put Sanjay Singh and Mehraj Malik forward in the election campaign.This strategy of Kejriwal is like playing a safe game. If he had campaigned in Muslim-dominated seats, BJP could have accused him of Muslim appeasement. Therefore, he kept himself away, but Congress and AIMIM have got a chance to raise questions on this issue. His strategy is that Muslim voters will ultimately support Aam Aadmi Party to defeat BJP.Safe game in DelhiSanjay Singh is considered the secular face of Aam Aadmi Party and he has a strong hold among Muslims. He has campaigned in seats like Seelampur, Mustafabad and Babarpur, which have been affected by the Delhi riots. At the same time, Mehraj Malik is also holding rallies in Muslim-dominated seats.Kejriwal's focus is on telling that voting for Congress will directly benefit the BJP. Under the India Alliance, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav and other leaders have also been fielded in rallies.It will be interesting to see which way the Muslim voters will lean in the Delhi elections. Whether Kejriwal's strategy will be successful or Congress and AIMIM will make a dent in Muslim votes, it will be decided only after the voting on February 8.