NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has adopted a policy of not allowing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), once evaluated as a phenomenon unique to Delhi, to grow any further following AAP’s sweeping victory in Punjab. Although AAP’s entry in Punjab is seen as a setback for the Congress, it may pose a threat for the BJP in the future. The BJP is planning to give more power to the mayor of the city in order to put a hold on the AAP government in Delhi. The party is planning to merge three municipal corporations in Delhi. As part of this, elections to the three Delhi municipal corporations in Delhi have reportedly been postponed.

The central government is trying to unify the North, South and East Delhi municipal corporations. The Delhi Municipal Corporation was decentralized into three in 2012, by the Congress party and then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. The move was aimed to weaken the BJP and prevent it from coming to power in the state. The Delhi municipal corporation was then divided into 104 wards in the North and South and 64 wards in the East.

In the subsequent local body elections, the Congress had the opportunity to rule the state even as the BJP seized power in the corporations. However, the Congress lost its ground as the AAP entered the state. The Delhi municipal body polls were expected to be held in April and the AAP was counting on securing complete dominance in the state.

However, the Election Commission (EC) postponed the announcement of municipal election dates, last week. This is supposedly considered as a move to reunite the Delhi Municipal Corporation.

The effort to defer the municipal elections reflected that the BJP has conceded defeat, said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. If the Delhi Municipal Corporation is merged, then it will become the second largest civic body in the world after Tokyo in Japan. Almost 97 percent of people in Delhi will come under the corporation as well.