BJP worried over low voter turnout in Delhi

New Delhi, Feb 9 (IANS) All political parties including the BJP are worried over the low voter turnout in the Delhi Assembly elections, which further went down from the last Assembly polls.

Worried over the low voter turnout, the BJP Delhi unit held a meeting which continued till late Saturday night. BJP national president J.P. Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari, Delhi election in-charge Prakash Javadekar, in-charge Nityanad Rai and several other leaders were present at the meeting where voting on every assembly seat was reviewed.

The BJP leaders are worried not only over the low turnout but also the exit polls which claimed that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will repeat the performance of 2015.

Several party leaders feel that the decline in the voter turnout is due to the apathy of the middle class which is directly impacting the party. In the last Assembly elections, the BJP got 33 per cent vote share. The party leaders believe that it was difficult to motivate people and bring them out to the polling booth. The booth workers were instructed to ensure high voter turnout and the MPs were asked to keep an eye on their work. Despite all the efforts, the voter turnout was recorded 5 per cent less as compared to the previous Assembly elections.

The party strategists are trying to figure out if the people have voted for regularisation of the unauthorised colonies or for free water and free power scheme of Arvind Kejriwal.

Party leaders also believe that the scheme of 'Jahan jhuggi, wahin makaan' (Homes in place of slums) did not reach the public properly. Rumours were spread about the implementation of this scheme. The BJP is looking at it as a direct loss.

A senior Delhi BJP leader said the AAP cadres spread rumours about the scheme in the public as he told the people that they will lose the ownership of their original houses.

The BJP has not spoken out openly on the low voter turnout but has certainly dismissed the exit polls results, which indicate AAP's victory. Delhi election in-charge Prakash Javadekar said, "Exit polls are not exact polls. The results on February 11 will show BJP coming to power."

The party is also analysing the records of 13,000 booths.