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'Anti-Corruption' Party Trounces Modi's Ruling Hindu Nationalist Party in Key
Local Elections

Anjana Pasricha

   NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist
   party suffered a humiliating defeat in a prestigious election for the
   local government in the capital, New Delhi -- the first held since
   widespread protests erupted against a new citizenship law that critics
   say is anti-Muslim.

   It is another setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, that has
   suffered a series of electoral reversals in state polls despite its
   commanding victory in parliamentary elections last May.

   The Aam Aadmi or Common Man's party that was founded seven years ago on
   an anti-corruption platform secured a sweeping win, taking 62 of the 70
   seats in the Delhi legislature. The BJP trailed with only eight seats,
   although that was a slight improvement on its previous tally.

   The Aam Aadmi party had wooed voters on its record of improving schools
   and health care facilities in the city of 20 million people, providing
   subsidized electricity for low-income families and free bus rides for
   women.

   The Hindu nationalist BJP, meanwhile, had focused a polarizing campaign
   on a nearly two-month long sit-in in a Muslim neighborhood. Protesters
   have demanded the rollback of the citizenship law that excludes Muslim
   immigrants from three neighboring countries - Afghanistan, Bangladesh
   and Pakistan - from becoming citizens in a fast-track process.

   Making nationalism its poll plank, senior BJP ministers had called
   protesters unpatriotic and traitors who wanted to break up the country.

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