Delhi polls: What do the middle-class voters want

NEW DELHI: The December 2013 assembly elections were a turning point in Delhi's politics. On the surface, Congress' 15-year run in government came to an end, but the cause lay beyond a mere rebalancing of traditional vote banks. The game-changer was Delhi's sizable middle class that, until then, had been a dormant force. It did not vote, could not be bought off with poll-eve bribes, gifts and booze, and refused to be locked into loyal vote banks. What it wanted-development, transparency, accountability and stability-was not part of the discourse.

But in 2013, the middle class came out to vote. The turnout increased by 14%-from 57.58% in 2008 to 65.86%-and the result was startling. Congress shrank from its dominant position to just eight seats in the assembly. AAP, a new party, won 28 seats and 29.5% of votes. Five months later, during Lok Sabha polls, the middle-class' affair with AAP was over and it went with the Modi wave, helping BJP win all seven seats in Delhi after a gap of 15 years. The turnout was 64%, up from 52.3% in 2009.

Now, with the city headed for another election on Saturday after a year of political turbulence, parties will be keeping their fingers crossed for swing votes from the middle and upper-middle classes in what is expected to be a fight between BJP and AAP.

Does the "Modi factor" still matter? Has AAP, which was credited with drawing the indifferent middle class out of its cocoon with a promise of change in 2013, regained ground it lost after its hasty exit from government? TOI's interactions with middle-class voters showed that candidates, more than parties, will be the key factor in constituencies like New Delhi, Greater Kailash and Malviya Nagar.