New Delhi: Desperatedly trying to revive its electoral prospects in Delhi, which is scheduled to face Assembly polls soon, the BJP is of the view that the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid issue could help it in consolidating the “Hindu votebank,” which otherwise gets divided into regional groups.

Already facing leadership crisis to take on Arvind Kejriwal led ruling AAP and also infested with factionalism, the BJP feels that the verdict will have a positive impact on its poll performance in Delhi, where the saffron party managed to win just three seats in 2015.

For the BJP poll managers, the apex court’s verdict has come at a time when the AAP government has launched sops for its core votebank, including women, lower and lower-middle class, which have garnered a positive response. Though the BJP had retained the seven Lok Sabha seats but party’s poll managers are of the view that they cannot repeat the same poll strategy in the Delhi Assembly polls as the voters will be more concerned about local issues.    

The AAP had secured an absolute majority in 2015 by bagging 67 Assembly seats and a vote share of 54.3 percent. Interestingly, the BJP, which won just three seats, had managed a vote share of 32.3 percent.      

The BJP is also banking on the recent announcement by the Centre on providing ownership rights on properties to the residents of unauthorised settlements, which will benefit around 40 lakh residents.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had recently met some RWAs, told that the Centre will bring a bill in this regard in the upcoming winter session of the Parliament.  

However, for the BJP, out of power in Delhi since 1998, the main problem area is not just leadership crisis or factionalism but also finding “winnable candidates.”

Though the BJP is likely to improve its tally this time as some of the AAP MLAs have been facing anti-incumbency or embroiled in some controversy, the ruling party, unlike the BJP, is not facing a leadership crisis. Speculation is rife within the Delhi BJP that the party’s poll managers want to go without a chief ministerial face as their experience of going with a CM face in 2015 had been “disastrous.”