BMC polls: Will AAP manage to make a dent in the Mumbai poll scape? What does the average Mumbaikar think?

MUMBAI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is making a concerted effort in Mumbai to rope in as many karyakartas or party workers in the run-up to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections due next year, in February or March 2023.

However, it’s efforts are yet to see the light of day, as several pockets in Mumbai haven’t even heard of AAP Mumbai or it’s workers are yet to be even seen in those areas.

The top AAP Mumbai leadership lacks any seasoned politicians or candidates with a good and established voter base and with a maximum of 2-4 months left for the BMC polls, it will need a miracle to even reach out to all the voters.

Finances and budgets are the biggest problem for the AAP in Mumbai and getting winnable leaders with deep pockets may not be so easy for the party in Mumbai, where it does not have a formidable base and presence, in spite of trying for several years now.

The AAP at its eleventh annual national council meeting in Delhi on Sunday decided to contest Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections due in 2023, but the actual implementation of this decision may be easier said than done.

The party’s Mumbai leadership, led by president Preeti Sharma Menon, working presidents Ruben Mascarenhas and Manu Pillai, and party leader Junaid Khan are no doubt doing their best, but piecemeal efforts are not going to bag the party a large vote share in a absence of powerful Marathi faces.

The average Mumbaikar is skeptical of the AAP as it does not appeal to any particular segment or section of the Mumbai voters and even North Indians (read Punjabis and Delhites) in Mumbai do not give the AAP much weightage in the Mumbai poll scape.

In the last few days, AAP Party leaders held meetings with the national leadership in Delhi and Punjab to discuss and formulate a strategy for the upcoming BMC polls.

They met Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia as well as Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and Horticulture Minister Fauja Singh Sarari to discuss election strategy and implementation. However, what is most important is the budget that AAP Mumbai can arrange and spend to woo the average Mumbaikar and create an impact on the ground.

Without a huge budget, the AAP in Mumbai is unlikely to make a major difference and even political journos and analysts are not impressed by its activity on the ground in the last two to three weeks.

The Mumbai AAP unit needs a huge war chest and activity on a war footing, if the AAP in Mumbai intends to bag even a 3 to 5 percent overall voter share this time.