New Delhi : Ahead of the Legislative Assembly Elections in Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will be employing a new strategy to retain its traditional slum vote bank, which has been a crucial base for the party.
With both the BJP and Congress attempting to break into this demographic, AAP has devised a plan to solidify its hold on these votes. According to the sources from Aam Aadmi Party, "We have seen in the last few days how BJP is trying hard to get the votes of slums towards itself. Therefore, now we have prepared a plan to retain the votes of slums through our campaign as well as the people of slums."
The core of this plan is the mobilization of educated youth from each slum, who already have influence within their local communities. These local youths, many of whom studied in Delhi government schools, have been trained to engage with slum dwellers and educate them on the benefits of AAP's government schemes.
"Through them, we are giving the message to the common slum dwellers that how the Aam Aadmi Party government has worked for their benefit, whether it is free electricity and water, free education, health, construction of lanes and sewers in slums or the schemes coming in the new government," sources added.
Every slum in Delhi now has a team of 8-10 local youths, and new posts such as "slum-pradhan" and "slum-sarakshak" have been created to manage the initiative. These teams are regularly updated with data and information from the AAP leadership.
"We have given these youths complete data about when and where the central government agencies have demolished the slums and how Arvind Kejriwal has fought to save the slums. The statements of BJP leaders and the news about the attitude of the government in other BJP ruled states regarding slums are also constantly given to them so that they can create an atmosphere of fear about the BJP among the common slum dwellers.", said sources
Additionally, figures presented by Arvind Kejriwal in his rallies, which claim that AAP's free schemes save each family approximately Rs25,000 per month, are being circulated within slums.
The sources said, "Most of the families in the slum do not even earn 25 thousand rupees per month. In such a situation, this thing is connecting them to the Aam Aadmi Party that if the BJP comes to power, their savings will end and there will be an additional burden."
The slum teams are working directly under the leadership of AAP's organization general secretary, Sandeep Pathak Sources revealed, "Every day's report from every slum goes directly to Sandeep Pathak." Through this coordinated effort, AAP hopes to prevent any shift of slum votes to rival parties, ensuring that the slum vote bank remains loyal to the party in the upcoming elections.