Dalits, Sikhs not supporting BJP in Delhi polls caused defeat, says party's internal assessment

Several BJP candidates who lost in the Delhi Assembly polls in February, in an internal assessment meeting on Friday discussed that the Dalit and Sikh communities did not support the party which was one of the reasons behind its massive defeat in the elections, sources said.

The meeting was attended by Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari, national vice president and incharge of Delhi unit Shyam Jaju and Delhi BJP general secretary (organisation) Siddharthan.

Union minister and incharge of Delhi for Assembly polls Prakash Javadekar also attended the meeting for some time, a senior Delhi BJP leader said.

"Over 50 candidates who lost the elections were present in the meeting. Many pointed out that they did not get the votes of Dalit and Sikh voters in their constituencies," he said.

The BJP had fielded 67 candidates in the elections that it fought in alliance with the JD(U) and LJP. Three seats were given to the alliance partners.

The party won just eight constituencies, suffering a massive defeat at the hands of the ruling AAP that came back to power winning 62 seats in the 70-member Assembly.

Some candidates also pointed out that delay in announcement of party tickets, late release of poll manifesto and role of party leaders who could not get tickets also went against their chances.

"A candidate had to fight on various fronts. Due to the late announcement of tickets, there was very little window available to reach out to the voters. Also, as the manifesto came late, there was confusion as to what to tell the people about the party's plans and programmes in the future," said one candidate.

The senior party leaders present in the meeting assured the candidates that their feedback will lead to an "actionable" report that will be submitted to the BJP high command, he said.

Delhi BJP has started a review to get feedback from its leaders, including municipal councilors, office bearers of frontal organisations, parliamentarians as well as candidates to ascertain reasons behind the party's "humiliating" electoral defeat.

Sources said the party will seek an explanation from the candidates who were absent in the meeting.