NEW DELHI: The BJP has retained, by huge margins, all three municipal corporations in Delhi for which elections were held on Sunday. The only contest today was for a poor number 2 between Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress. AAP gets that consolation prize, with the Congress third in all the municipalities. The Congress’ Delhi chief Ajay Maken has resigned, while AAP has alleged that rigged voting machines led to its rout. BJP chief Amit Shah credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governance for the victory and said, “The people of Delhi have rejected negative politics, the politics of excuses.”
The BJP has won 64 of 104 wards in MCD North, 70 of 104 in MCD South and 48 of 64 in MCD East, well over the halfway mark that gives it control in all three. Overall, out of a total 272 wards, the BJP has won over 182 wards, with AAP winning 47 and the Congress 29.
In each municipality the BJP has bettered last time’s performance, up seven wards in MCD North, 12 wards in MCD South and 14 in MCD East. The MCD was split into three municipalities in 2012.
The municipalities will be full of new faces. In a strategic move, the BJP had sought to eliminate all chances of an anti-incumbency sentiment by dropping its sitting councilors and picking new candidates in 267 wards of the total 272 wards.
“The people of Delhi have exercised their right to recall,” said BJP’s Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari, hitting out at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. “We are sad that the Chief Minister is threatening and cursing its (Delhi) people, we condemn that. I am happy people of Delhi have rejected such people,” Mr Tiwari said.
Congratualting the BJP, Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “My government looks forward to working with MCDs for the betterment of Delhi.” Earlier in the day, his minister Gopal Rai alleged that EVMs or electronic voting machines were rigged to help the BJP win the MCD elections. “This is an EVM wave not a Modi wave,” he said. Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, “BJP’s win was impossible without EVM tampering.”
The BJP has called AAP a poor loser. “Kejriwal is a drama queen,” said the BJP’s Shazia Ilmi, a former member of AAP. “Kejriwal thought he would become PM after becoming CM of Delhi. He is losing the election just because of his aggression,” said the BJP’s Sambit Patra.
For AAP, today’s loss means a political wipe-out. Chief Minister Kejriwal’s party, which had swept assembly elections in Delhi two years ago, is already reeling from humiliating losses in the Punjab and Goa assembly elections last month.
The Congress had hoped today’s results would herald a political revival in Delhi for the party, which did not win a single seat in the Delhi assembly elections in 2015 or a parliament seat the year before.
Ajay Maken said he was quitting as the Congress’ Delhi chief and would not hold any party post for a year. He said the Congress was the day’s big gainer on vote share, but he had expected to do better. Just ahead of the MCD polls some top Delhi Congress leaders quit the party and joined the BJP as a rebellion bubbled against Mr Maken.
The MCD elections is an important addition to the BJP’s list of victories this year in state and local polls across the country. The party has dominated the MCD for a decade and conducted a big campaign to retain control, still smarting at being reduced to just three seats in the Delhi assembly in 2015, as AAP swept 67 of the 70 seats. In the 2014 national election, the BJP had won all seven of Delhi’s parliament seats.
