High-decibel campaign for Delhi election ends

New Delhi: Campaigning for the most hotly contested Assembly election in Delhi ever ended at 5 p.m. on Monday, drawing curtains on months-long, high-decibel electioneering replete with AI-generated memes, acerbic jibes and venomous barbs and a race to woo voters with freebies, including monthly doles to women and the youth. The ruling AAP and rival BJP and the Congress engaged their star campaigners liberally with the pack being led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet Minister Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Piyush Goyal, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann and Chief Ministers of other BJP and Congress-ruled states.

Cricketer Harbhajan Singh and filmstar Shatrughan Sinha added star power to the AAP's campaign.

Cash assistance for women, heated exchanges over alleged corruption revolving around liquor scam and 'Sheesh Mahal', joblessness, water supply and sewers, toxic air, polluted Yamuna and free health insurance dominated the discourse.

At the peak of the campaign, the campaign turned into a direct fight between 'Modi ki Guarantee', 'Kejriwal ki Guarantee' and 'Congress ki Guarantee, with all three parties offering freebies to woo voters.

The ruling AAP and rival BJP and Congress also locked horns on several occasions over issues of alleged poll code violation, deletion of voters' names, suspected Bangladeshis enrolled as voters and attempts to influence voters using lies and wrong information. The hot seats of New Delhi of AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Kalkaji seat of Chief Minister Atishi attracted special attention all through the campaign.

The fiercely campaign for the February 5 Assembly election has been defined by an unprecedented use of AI-generated spoofs and memes, sharp political jibes, and high-decibel roadshows. The tech-driven campaign was supplemented by conventional methods like padyatra, corner meetings, handouts, newspaper ads, recorded phone calls by Kejriwal to voters and personal letters sent by Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva to voters.  (IANS)

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