BJP Nears Majority In Leads, Neck-And-Neck Contest With AAP For Delhi Civic Body

Far from the AAP landslide predicted by exit polls, the BJP is leading past the majority mark in the counting of votes for Delhi civic polls, held on December 4. Leads for all 250 seats are in, with the BJP at 130, AAP 107, and Congress at 12.

After about an hour of counting, just past 9 am, it looks like the BJP will continue its MCD reign — hovering around the halfway mark of 125 in the leads so far — even though the AAP is likely to become a solid player in the civic body.

This is the first municipal election in Delhi after three civic bodies were unified and wards were redrawn, their number dropping from 272 to 250. While AAP has swept the past two Delhi Assembly polls, it is the BJP which has controlled the MCD for 15 years despite being out of power in the assembly.

The AAP wants to change it this time, and has claimed that it will win more than 200 out of the 250 wards. An aggregate of four exit polls has predicted victory on about 155 seats for the Arvind Kejriwal-led party. An aggregate of exit poll projections predicted a BJP win in 84 wards and the Congress managing only seven.

The AAP and BJP are contesting all 250 wards. The Congress has put up nominees in 247. Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party has contested 132 wards, Sharad Pawar’s NCP 26 and the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) 22 seats. As many as 382 Independents are contesting this time.

AAP has claimed that it has won public trust through its work in Delhi and this would see them through. The BJP, it has said, has not been able to meet a basic parameter like cleaning up the city in 15 years.

AAP has conducted a gritty campaign in Delhi in the shadow of an alleged scam in liquor policy and corruption cases against its leaders. Weeks before the elections, Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The BJP, as is its norm, banked on a glitzy campaign, roping in Union ministers and state Chief Ministers and the governance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It targeted the anti-corruption image that AAP has been building since its inception with a series of sting videos.

The sting videos included one accusing AAP of selling tickets, which the party denied. The BJP also tweeted videos of AAP minister Satyendar Jain receiving a massage in jail, claiming he was being given VIP treatment.

Insisting that he does not need to respond, Arvind Kejriwal said, “MCD elections are becoming quite clear, it’s BJP’s 10 videos versus Kejriwal’s 10 guarantees. Let’s wait till December 4, people of Delhi will give a reply to all those videos”.

Mr Kejriwal had announced “10 guarantees” ahead of the civic elections – which included cleaning up the city, including landfills and ending corruption in the civic body. AAP’s trade wing announced ’10 guarantees’ that included de-sealing of shops and resolving conversion and parking charges.