AAP Victory in Delhi Elections and Public Trust

Public trust is a big issue for any political party today. With rising levels of awareness, the barometer of public trust has become very complex. Amidst fluctuating ups and downs, it is very difficult to sustain public trust for any political party for a long time. With AAP’s spectacular victory in Delhi elections, public trust has never been so significant than ever before. Has AAP been able to win public trust? What about other parties? Has AAP’s decision to form the government in Delhi based on public opinion has strengthened public trust?

Public today can not be made fools by any political party today. While a political party may be sure of the trust of the trust level of people who will vote for them, the public have other notions. They are in look out for those who are different from the rest in their claims for good governance. AAP has been vociferously advocating for transparency, honesty and rooting out corruption from the top to the bottom. AAP’s trust-enforcing mechanisms got a boost due to lack of innovative political ideas by other parties, who kept on toeing the old line. A smart social media strategy tilted the scales of public trust in AAP’s favour. At a time when leadership crisis is well evident in the political arena, Arvind Kejriwal’s clean image and inspiring leadership   were the other crucial factors in building up favourable public trust for AAP. AAP’s ability to win the hearts of the youth was also an effective public trust winning ploy.

BJP and  Congress having lost public trust in Delhi elections,  decided to give unconditional support to AAP to form government in Delhi. At one time before the elections, they had dismissed AAP, and ridiculed AAP’s claims for an outright victory. The public trust  could not be enforced due to the fluctuating stance of both the parties, as people could see definite ulterior moves in both these parties..  They took the plea that people of Delhi want government formation, and AAP should not shirk from its responsibility. Feeling cornered, AAP presented 18 points demands to Congress and BJP to make their stand clear on various issues, which both the parties condemned. The public trust appeared to have got a big jolt amidst compulsive politicking by the parties on the issue of government formation.

Recently, when AAP decided to go for public referendum by conducting  public opinion polls on whether they should form government in Delhi, it appeared that this was a timely step in winning public trust. The aam aadmi connection has been well utilised by AAP to win public trust. The move to go for public opinion polls has been a democratic step taken by the party to clear the scene of political uncertainty in Delhi, and put an end to dirty political alliances sprouting up. The majority of the public opinions appears to indicate that the people want AAP government formation in Delhi. In all likelihood, it appears that AAP will form government in Delhi with unconditional support of Congress. Now, performance of AAP in the government will be a key factor in reposing the trust imposed by the people in them. The Congress and BJP will have to deeply introspect about their weaknesses due to which they could not win public trust. Connecting deeply with the people      so   as to win their public trust instead of taking them for granted, seems to be a big lesson for both these parties from the Delhi elections.