‘Party leaders told to maintain ‘people connect’ and step up attack on AAP govt.’s policies ahead of election between Dec.-Feb.’
‘Party leaders told to maintain ‘people connect’ and step up attack on AAP govt.’s policies ahead of election between Dec.-Feb.’
The civic poll bugle has been sounded for former BJP councillors in the Capital with the Delhi unit high command asking them to “start preparing strategies for the exercise that will be held between December 2022 and February 2023”, said a party source.
According to a former BJP mayor, the instructions include maintaining a “deep connect” with residents in each ward and amping up the attack against the AAP-led Delhi government in connection with the alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.
“Even after the three erstwhile corporations were unified, we never stopped interacting with people in our wards. We have received clear instructions that once the elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are over, the focus will shift to the municipal elections in Delhi. Naturally, our strategy involves going door to door and educating people about the AAP government’s failures,” said the former Mayor.
Elections to the three erstwhile municipal corporations in Delhi – North, South and East — were set to be held in April this year till the State Election Commission, in March, announced that the poll dates have been deferred following the Centre’s decision to merge the three bodies into a single entity — the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
Sources in the BJP said the formal exit of councillors from the MCD resulted in a “free hand for bureaucrats leading the civic body” with respect to hikes in tax and licence fee rates.
A former BJP councillor, who also served as a standing committee chairman, said the recent hike in licence fee rates – health trade licence fee, for instance – has resulted in stiff opposition from trader bodies, with many reaching out to former councillors to express their discontent.
“Despite the unification, residents, including traders, tend to reach out to former ward councillors with their problems. We have ensured that this process does not stop,” said the former BJP councillor.
‘Delimitation on fast track’
After the notification of The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022, the provisions in the legislation led to a reduction of councillor seats from the existing 272 to 250, triggering the delimitation exercise in the municipal wards.
Sources familiar with the developments regarding the ongoing delimitation exercise said that it is “on a fast track mode”. The draft delimitation report is likely to be out in October – after the Central government’s approval – for public suggestions, said sources.
“We are racing against the deadline to ensure that the entire delimitation exercise is completed by early November. We have completed work on Assembly constituencies in north Delhi, and work on constituencies in south Delhi will be completed soon,” said a source.
On July 8, the Ministry of Home Affairs had constituted a three-member delimitation committee which was tasked to complete the exercise and submit its report within four months from the date of its constitution. The committee is led by State Election Commissioner Vijay Dev.
‘Excise strategy’
Soon after the now-scrapped excise policy was rolled out in November last year, councillors from the BJP and the Congress had started opposing its implementation stating that liquor vends were opening in non-conforming areas, which was a violation of the norms under the Master Plan for Delhi-2021.
Under the now-scrapped policy, the city’s liquor business was handled by private players and a total of 849 vends, including five super premium ones, were to be opened, of which 810 fell in the corporation areas.
The then BJP councillors went ahead holding door-to-door campaign against the “ill-effects” of the policy. They also staged chakka jams in various parts of the city, alleging irregularities in the policy’s implementation.
“The corruption in the excise policy is a hot topic and we intend to bank on the momentum it has created. However, there are other subjects such as the irregularities committed by the AAP government in the construction of classrooms and purchase of DTC buses. We will aggressively campaign against these issues. However, the excise policy is more crucial since we have opposed it ever since it was rolled out last year,” said another BJP leader.
