Until Sunday 8th December 2013 those tuned to political leanings were seeing the contest in the state election of Delhi as a bipolar contest between the BJP and the Congress.

However, performance of Aam Admi Party or AAP headed by Arvind Kejriwal has demolished this thinking altogether and in one respect has caused a paradigm shift in the bipolar thinking not only for Delhi but for the whole of India so far as the electoral politics is concerned.

The results in Delhi have thrown a hung assembly with the BJP with its allies emerging as the party with largest number of seats but short of four for a simple majority. In other times it could have formed a government by a formula known in Indian politics as ‘Jodh-Todh’ before or after the formation of government. But its Chief Ministerial candidate has refused stating that they have not received ‘peoples mandate’.

This new theory too has emerged after the same was first coined by AAP. If AAP too stands on this then Delhi is bound to be ruled by the Lt. Governor of Delhi pending a fresh election. With this scenario the electorates of Delhi will have to think of voting in such a fashion that out of the three one gets the ‘peoples mandate’ to form the government. If it happens then the paradigm shift will be in place-an end to ‘Jodh Todh’ post election. A new trend to start with.

Arvind Kejriwal was in fact forced to enter politics one must remember. He was a central figure in the agitation started under the banner of India Against Corruption (IAC) for a ‘Jan Lokpal’ in 2011 led by Anna Hazare. That agitation though did not achieve its target but gave a new thrust to people’s voice and galvanized the civil society the effect of which was seen later in last December on the eve of agitation in ‘Nirbhaya’ case.

The issue of Jan Lokpal was cleverly side tracked by politicians of all political parties without any exception and then they threw taunts at IAC leaders to contest elections if they had guts. Mr Kejriwal accepted the challenge and formed AAP and made Delhi-the epicenter of power-his testing ground. The rest is history.

That Kejriwal is a man of guts need a bit of illustration. He left Indian Revenue Service and became a social activist which resulted in Anna Hazare’s agitation, then floated a political party with no previous experience and nurtured it with methods totally different from the run of the mills ways of established political parties, then decided to test his fortunes in Delhi and then decided to contest against a three time sitting Chief Minister of Delhi.

All may be termed ‘risks’ for his personal reputation as well as reputation of many renowned persons who stood by him. So many risks in quick successions but with sincerity of purpose catapulted him for recognition not only in Delhi and India but in the world. So much so that all those who ridiculed him, his political ambitions, his methods and even his party’s symbol ‘broom or jhadoo’ are now changing their views and making statements for ‘learning’ from him. That is how his advent may be termed as a new phenomenon.

However, as a word of caution AAP leaders should avoid the so called ‘basking in glory’. It was immature and irrelevant statements from those surrounding Anna Hazare which made his agitation loose the initial thrust and shine ultimately resulting in the disappearance of his very agitation from public memory and support.

AAP leaders would do well to preserve their electoral achievements by strictly adhering to their ideals and keeping a distance from controversial issues and loose as well as irrelevant statements. It will be better if they emerge victorious in the impending re-election and then show the results to gain public confidence first in Delhi before embarking on expanding their activities. If they succeed to some extent their model will govern the national scene otherwise also. Their first test will be their performance in office.