New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday lost the civic polls to the AAP in a close contest, but managed to raise its vote share by 3 per cent as compared to 2017 MCD elections.
The vote share of the ruling party in Delhi also soared from 21.09 per cent in 2017 municipal polls to 42.05 per cent, as per figures of the State Election Commission.
The party conceded the election but has emerged as a strong Opposition for the AAP. Calling its "moral victory", several BJP leaders took to twitter to thank the people of Delhi for their support and love.
The party also held an important meeting on Wednesday after results were declared with all their winners. Senior party insiders said that they are scrambling a way to secure their momentum in Delhi and not let this loss hit them but instead work towards securing a smoother run this term. Senior party leader and former BJP state president Vijay Goel said that the party has not lost hope and will continue to work towards development.
Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta said, "People of Delhi have given us almost 40 per cent vote share alongwith 104 wards and responsibility as a strong Opposition. We will constructively keep raising the issues of the general public."
"We hope that they will clear all 3 landfill sites within the next 6 months and will immediately fulfil their
commitment to all sections of society, especially the RWAs", he added.
While most were tight-lipped about the elections of Mayor of the House of MCD, party insiders have said that BJP is hoping that the first candidate will be from their party.
The BJP that had won 181 of the 272 wards in 2017 managed to win only 104 wards this time surrendering its 15-year-rule at the civic body to the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.
The saffron party obtained 39.09 per cent of the total votes polled in the elections for 250 wards. In 2017 municipal polls, the party had secured 36.08 per cent votes.
An analysis of vote share of different contestants showed that the Congress which had obtained 21.09 per cent
votes in 2017 could manage to get only 11.68 per cent votes this time.
Also, the vote share of Independent candidates slid to 3.46 per cent as compared to 8.8 per cent in 2017 civic body polls, suggesting that the
votes of Congress and Independents shifted to the AAP and BJP.
The increased vote share of the AAP shot up its seat tally to 134 from 48 it had won in the 2017 civic body polls.
Interestingly, the vote share of BJP in the MCD polls is higher than that it had got in the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections while the AAP
registered a significant decline in its vote share. The AAP had received nearly 54 per cent votes winning 62 Assembly seats in 2020 while the BJP bagged 8 seats with 38.5 per cent votes.
The BJP fared well in trans Yamuna areas, including northeast Delhi that was rocked by communal riots in 2020.