Theorising AAP's Victory -- II

This time in Delhi it was not any group which had been bought for votes that constituted the winning party’s support base. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) recorded a sweeping victory because the informed masses made the broom win. One of the most important elements of Delhi’s voting behaviour is the critical mass population which keeps analysing political parties. The staunch supporters of particular parties are fewer in number while those who analyse politics are many more. The rout of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the reduction of the Congress to zero clearly reflected the informed decision of the voting population which understands the pressing issues around it.

The mass participation in the elections because of the mobilisation by AAP simultaneously challenged many myths like the operation of vote banks based on regionalism, casteism, radicalism, etc. AAP’s steep ascent tells us that those who earlier were treated as street jokers are now mature social engineers who manufacture change not by organising around polarising issues but around the everyday challenges in the routine lives of people.