AAP ends 15-year BJP rule in MCD
New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday won the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, which turned out to be closer than expected, with 134 seats, ending the 15-year rule of the Bharatiya Janta Party in the civic body. The BJP bagged 104 seats while the Congress was reduced to nine in the 250-member municipal corporation. Three seats were won by independent candidates.
Delhi Chief Minister and AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal celebrated this win by terming it as "an affirmation for his party's positive honest politics". He thanked the Delhiites and vowed to improve civic amenities in the national capital.
"People of Delhi have now entrusted their son to clean Delhi and rid MCD from corruption, I won't let them down. Thank & congratulate the people of Delhi for this historic mandate; now we all have to come together and make Delhi clean and beautiful," he said. He sought the "blessings" of the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to achieve that.
In a closer-than-expected contest, the BJP, which bucked the trend predicted by exit polls, put up a spirited fight, winning 104 municipal wards, while the Congress managed to win just nine seats, down from 30 in the previous civic poll.
The BJP also managed to increase its vote share by three per cent as compared to the polls in 2017. It received 39.09 per cent of the total votes polled while AAP's share also soared from 21.09 per cent to 42.05 per cent, according to the State Election Commission data. Congress coming in third has a total of 11.68 per cent vote shares, while independent candidates had 3.46 per cent vote shares. Nota received 0.78 per cent vote shares. The highest winning margin was of 17,134 from Chandani Mahal for AAP candidate Aaley Mohammed Iqbal. Whereas the lowest winning margin was 44 votes from Chittaranjan Park for AAP's Ashu Thakur.
The counting of votes began at 8 am at 42 centers across Delhi amid tight security, and initial trends were in favour of the BJP, which showed leads in 107 seats as compared to AAP's 95. But as the counting progressed, the AAP went past the BJP and slowly consolidated the lead in the election, first after the MCD reunification earlier this year.
AAP has had its eye on MCD since its first entry into the Delhi government in 2015. This election, the party focused on making Delhi garbage free, education, anti-corruption, and upgrading parks etc.
BJP leaders stated that this is a "moral victory" for them. Despite years of anti-incumbency, they managed to secure a strong number in the MCD. Continued on P4
