The Aam Aadmi Party has formed a task force to conduct a door-to-door campaign for the 2025 Delhi Assembly Election. The task force is being led by the AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh.
According to party sources, the task force has been divided into seven teams that are working in the Lok Sabha constituencies. The job of these teams is to target Purvanchal voters. The sources said these teams are going from door to door and informing people “how BJP is against Purvanchal voters”. Sanjay Singh, too, has reportedly held such meetings with Purvanchal voters.
As part of its strategy, the AAP is widely sharing a video clip of Shehzad Poonawala, who can be heard abusing Sanjay Jha and MLA Rituraj Jha using their surnames during a TV debate. Poonawalla later issued an apology towards ‘Purvanchalis’ for hurting their sentiments. He, however, justified that he was only retaliating to Rituraj Jha’s comments.
AAP is also highlighting at these meetings with Purvanchal voters the fact that the BJP has not taken any action against Shehzad Poonawalla despite his comments. “It means that all this happened with the consent of BJP’s top leaders,” an AAP leader said. Till now AAP has held around 600 such small-scale meetings.
Congress’s Purvanchal Outreach
The Congress, too, has beefed up its Purvanchal outreach campaign. On Friday, January 24, the party promised that if elected, it would form a separate ministry in Delhi and have a special Budget for Purvanchali people.
BJP’s Strategy To Woo Purvanchal Voters
Not one to be left behind, the BJP, too, is actively pursuing Purvanchal voters. In its bid to woo such voters, the BJP has deployed a massive team of senior leaders from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar who are campaigning in Delhi.
As per sources quoted by news website TOI, the BJP has deployed the team in 51 constituencies where Purvanchal voters comprise 15% to 40% of the electorate.
Why Are Purvanchal Voters Important?
Purvanchal voters are those who belong to Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Although there is no clear number for their strength, it is widely believed that they account for about a sixth of Delhi’s population and a little over 40% of its electorate. They can influence the poll results in 20-35 of Delhi’s 70 assembly seats.
(With inputs from Deepak Rawat, ABP.)
