With less than a month remaining for the Delhi Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is ramping up efforts to gain traction in Dalit-dominated constituencies, where it has struggled in past polls.
In the 2015 and 2020 elections, the BJP failed to win a single seat in the 12 reserved Scheduled Castes (SC) constituencies. Historically, the party has managed to secure only two or three of these seats.
The BJP is targeting 30 constituencies in Delhi where Dalit voters make up 17-45% of the electorate. These include Rajender Nagar, Chandni Chowk, Adarsh Nagar, Shahdara, Tughlaqabad, and Bijwasan.
The party has deployed an extensive outreach campaign, involving over 18,000 active workers. According to Mohan Lal Gihara, President of the Delhi BJP SC Morcha, senior SC workers, referred to as “Vistarak” (expanders), have been assigned to these constituencies. Each polling booth, out of a targeted 1,900 booths, has 10 Dalit youth conducting door-to-door interactions to explain the BJP’s achievements under the Modi government and highlight what the party describes as the “failures” of the AAP government during its 10-year tenure.
The outreach also includes 55 prominent Dalit leaders from across the country, including former union ministers and MPs from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana. These leaders are holding marathon meetings in the targeted constituencies to bolster support.
The Delhi Assembly elections for the 70 seats will be held on February 5, with results announced on February 8.
