From corruption to Purvanchali identity, big issues in the elections to MCD

The stage is set for an election that has managed to create as many ripples as any state election. The upcoming civic elections in Delhi (polling on December 4) have pushed all the three parties — the BJP, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and Congress — into pulling out their big campaigning guns, with a number of BJP and AAP leaders oscillating between Delhi and Gujarat, where Assembly elections are due. Nearly 13,638 polling booths have been set up in 2,799 locations in the city with nearly 40,000 deployed. But, the election seems to have a different meaning for the parties and for the voters.

The BJP has ruled the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for the past 15 years (even when it was trifurcated) while AAP has steamrolled its rivals in the last two Assembly elections, winning over 60 seats out of 70 in 2015 and 2020. Delayed by over seven months due to the merger of three corporations (East, North and South) and a subsequent delimitation exercise, the election has seen AAP and the BJP exchange barbs. [The number of wards has been reduced from 272 to 250. Parliament passed the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, to unify the three civic bodies and capped the number of wards at 250.] 

The BJP has accused AAP of not releasing funds to the civic bodies while AAP has hit out at the ruling party for not working on sanitation and landfills in Delhi. Meanwhile, the Congress looks to stay relevant as it fights the civic polls for the first time without Sheila Dikshit, Delhi’s chief minister from 1998 to 2013.

The issues

Corruption: This has been at the heart of the speeches of every campaigner. Pay arrears and other liabilities run into crores as the civic body has failed to boost its corpus. While the BJP has hit out at AAP over the liquor policy and there have been allegations of “selling” tickets, AAP has criticised the BJP for failing to provide routine services like health care and roads. Meanwhile, the Congress’ Ajay Maken has raised questions at the AAP government’s power-subsidy scheme, alleging a Rs 5,000-crore scam and demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Nithin, who runs a tea stall near Delhi University’s South Campus, is enraged about the road that has been under construction for over 10 years. “It’s been over a decade since work started but it’s yet to end. My business and health have suffered because of it.”

Health care: The civic body had budgeted Rs 1,570.3 crore for the sector. While AAP is going all out on its Mohalla Clinic campaign, it has drawn some flak over the pace of construction, with the party building only 191 of the promised 1,000 clinics in the first four and a half years of coming to power.

Meanwhile, the hospitals under the MCD have been handicapped by a shortage of funds and infrastructure. “The shortage has affected the hospitals. During the Congress’ time, we never faced such issues even though Delhi and the MCD were ruled by different parties back then as well. This has become an issue now. Sometimes, doctors don’t get salaries for up to six months. Our facilities and equipment have been affected because of this,” a doctor working with an MCD hospital said.

Manpower has been a concern with a number of doctors/workers complaining about delays in payment, even forcing them to protest in 2020 and 2021.

Infrastructure in these hospitals is abysmal. In January, the Delhi government sealed the Rajan Babu Institute of Pulmonary Medicine and Tuberculosis in GTB Nagar, terming the hospital dangerous. There was a wall collapse at the Kasturba Gandhi Hospital near Jama Masjid.

Sanitation and landfills: If corruption has been the war cry in these elections, landfills have turned into battlefields. The Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, visited these landfills several times, targeting the MCD for its failure to clear the trash mountain. AAP has also hit out at the BJP because the civic body had made the highest allocation in its Budget for sanitation — Rs 4,153.28 crore.

Waste management and occasional fires caused by high temperatures have been pain points. “We always have to bear the stink. Not only that, these catch fire, which has caused health hazards. At times, schools have had to be closed because the garbage has reached the gates of the schools,” said Nazma, who has lived near the Bhalswa landfill for nearly 20 years.

Purvanchali identity: Purvanchalis constitute over 30 per cent of Delhi’s population. The people from eastern UP and Bihar are numerically higher in 16 of the 70 Assembly seats. So it comes as no surprise that all the parties are looking to woo the community.

In the 2017 elections, the BJP fielded 34 Purvanchalis. This time, Adesh Gupta, president, Delhi BJP, claims to have given 50 Purvanchalis the ticket. AAP, in turn, has said the party has chosen 57. Both the parties saw Chhath Puja as an opportune way 

of luring the vote bank. While 500 Chhath Puja committees interacted with BJP President J P Nadda on November 21, AAP held, and continues to hold, regular nukkad sabhas, and has inducted former Congress leader Mahabal Mishra, a popular Purvanchali leader.