Delhi’s Assembly in a Limbo!

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Amidst much furor and a nail-biting election process, arrived the startling result of BJP and AAP sweeping off the floor underneath the feet of Congress. A piece of news bewildering enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine! While Sheila Dixit conceded her defeat, the workforce of the victorious parties inundated themselves in the fervor of jubilance.

However, an old adage says that what goes up the hill also comes down the hill. The din of celebration along with the high decibel lectures of political leaders has begun to fade down, courtesy the dilemma over who would administer Delhi post these elections. The Indian Constitution says that any party willing to form a government needs to cross the halfway, mark which was 36 in this case. However, to the unpleasant surprise of everyone in the nation, not even a single party could achieve that feat in these elections. With BJP securing 33 votes in all followed by AAP clinching 28 seats, the assembly now lies hung. Congress, with a hold on mere 8 seats is definitely out of question.

What has added even more fuel to the fire is the declaration by both the BJP and AAP, about their indifference for coalition. While BJP has been lukewarm on this issue, AAP has strictly maintained keeping such offers at bay. It has been reported that Kejriwal has given strict orders to all his winning candidates to work in their constituencies and report directly to him in case offers are made by other parties for a coalition. In a response, the chief ministerial candidate for Delhi, Harsh Vardhan has said that even BJP would not resort to horse-trading practices.

The ball is in BJP’s court now. The only option left with BJP is to garner the support of independent candidates. Rambir Shokeen, a BJP candidate who was not given a ticket and was replaced for Azad Singh, has won the Mundka constituency. It would, however, be difficult to convince Shokeen for such a support. Even more difficult would be to get the support of JD(U) leader Shoiab Iqbal, as he has forthrightly declared that he won’t support BJP at any cost.

In such a case, Lt Governor Najeeb Jung can invite BJP to form a government since it has majority over the seats. But even for that to happen, BJP would have to complete its tally of 36 seats. Now, the last resort is to consider a re-election. But that won’t be conducive to all. BJP is wary of AAP’s influence now and can’t afford to lose this golden opportunity to re-elections. Since both AAP and BJP have a stake on a large chunk of seats, both have gone by the conventional wisdom which says to sit in the opposition in such a scenario.

Whatever be the final outcome, one thing is certain that it would be a herculean task to break this impasse. With AAP making a history and BJP swinging back to the peak of the hill, this assembly election is going to be a big suspense-filled drama.

About the Author

130113-175943Arijit is an engineering student at University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Panjab University, Chandigarh. He is an avid content writer and is associated as a writer in the marketing department of AIESEC Chandigarh. He is also the Editor-in-chief at L@TEEN, the online newspaper module of Edurev. Moreover, he also takes keen interest in organizing activities at his institute. Being an executive member of the NGO Youth United, he has also worked as an organizing member of the event Smiling Future. He aims to be a social entrepreneur one day and work in cohesion with the people who want to be authors of a positive change in tomorrow’s world. Currently, he is working as the Associate, Planning for Alexis Centre for Public Policy and International Relations.

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