Early planning helped AAP make a sweep in outer Delhi

NEW DELHI: A mix of realpolitik and high principle seemed to have helped AAP make a sweep in the complex outer Delhi assembly constituencies. The party's high victory margins in these seats show that it was able to make deep inroads into the rural heartland, which also has some unauthorized colonies on its peripheries.

According to party workers, AAP chose to focus on the outer Delhi belt soon after its debacle in the Lok Sabha polls. Like the reserved constituencies and minority pockets, AAP had decided to reach out to voters in these areas that were neglected for long by other mainstream parties. AAP set up its rural cells, deployed its volunteers and struck a balance between the traditional style of selecting candidates based on winnability factor and its own brand of politics.

For decades, these areas, known for their high voter turnouts, used to be a favourite hunting ground for mainstream parties, which were only interested in the caste and community politics.In the 2013 elections, AAP had failed to charm the voters in this belt. However, its dramatic turnaround in these polls was a result of the party's focused strategy and its sustained campaign highlighting the negative impact of the Centre's decision to amend the land acquisition law. At the same time, AAP managed to explain it to the public its policy on agricultural land and Lal Dora areas.

In an interview to TOI recently, AAP's senior functionary Yogendra Yadav had explained the party's strategy on outer Delhi. "We had done very poorly in outer areas of Delhi last time, which gave rise to the recognition that the character of outer and rural Delhi is very different from the main areas. This is not to say that we will induct criminals into the party but one needs to tap into pre-existing networks. We tapped into that and put up a filter of lokpal to ensure we got candidates with integrity," he said.

The results show the strategy has worked. AAP's victory march peaked in Burari where its candidate Sanjeev Jha beat BJP's Gopal Jha by the highest margin of 67,950 votes. Party insiders suggest that Jha's performance and popularity among the masses, along with the "AAP wave" delivered this surprising outcome. The rural and industrial belt of Bawana too embraced AAP with Ved Prakash defeating BJP's Gugan Singh by a margin of 50,023 votes. In Kirari, Rituraj defeated BJP's Anil Jha by 45,172 votes.

Even in Mundka, which was considered a tough seat by party insiders, AAP managed to win with a margin of over 40,000 votes. Northwest Delhi's Badli is the only seat where Congress ended second to AAP's Ajesh Yadav—here too the victory margin was 35,376. It was in Badli that Congress held its last election rally by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.