MCD by-polls: Rude shock to BJP; Cong, AAP vow to wipe it out in 2022 polls

Updated : March 04, 2021 09:28 AM IST

A senior Delhi BJP leader said although the by-poll results were ”upsetting” but they had no meaning with reference to the upcoming MCD polls.

The BJP is ruling the municipal corporations since 2007.

The municipal corporation by-poll results on Wednesday came as a rude shock to the BJP which drew a blank, with its rivals AAP and Congress asserting that they would wipe it out in the civic body polls in 2022. The AAP swept the by-polls winning four out of the five wards where elections were held on February 28. However, Congress snatched the Chauhan Bangar ward from the AAP by a huge margin of over 10,000 votes.

Encouraged by the results, AAP leaders claimed they would win the ”final” in 2022 after a victory in the ”semi-final” by-polls. ”The AAP has won the semi-final decisively, with roughly one year to go for MCD finals in 2022. It is time for Delhiites to put an end to the 15-year corruption-plagued rule of the BJP in MCDs,” said senior AAP leader Raghav Chadha.

However, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta said the by-polls should not be seen as a ”semi-final”to the 2022 municipal corporation elections. It has a ”limited scope”, he said. As per the State Election Commission figures, the AAP polled the highest 46.10 percent votes in the by-polls, followed by 27.29 percent by the BJP and 21.84 percent by the Congress.

The BJP also lost its stronghold, Shalimar Bagh North, to the AAP. The by-poll was necessitated by the death of Renu Jaju. Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar asserted that party candidate Chaudhary Zubair Ahmad’s victory by over 10,000 votes in Chauhan Bangar showed that the confidence of people in the party was rising and it was on the path of revival in Delhi.

Also Read: MCD election 2021 results: AAP wins 4 wards in Delhi municipal bypolls; Congress 1

He asserted the party would win in the MCD polls. The party, however, failed to leave any influence on the four other wards where its candidates trailed behind the BJP, on the third spot, indicating it has to cover a lot of lost ground.

Nevertheless, Kumar claimed the Congress increased its vote share from 6 percent in 2020 Assembly polls to 22 percent in the by-polls, while that of the BJP and the AAP registered a decline. The loss registered by the AAP in minority-dominated Chauhan Bangar ward was seen by many in the context of North East Delhi riots in February, 2020 and the cases registered during the coronavirus pandemic against Tablighi Jamat members.

The AAP leaders, however, termed the loss of party candidate and former MLA Mohammad Ishraq Khan as an outcome of ”local factors” and the influence of the Congress candidate’s father, Mateen Ahmad, in the area. Delhi BJP president said that the loss of the party in Shalimar Bagh was a matter of deliberation and asserted that it will contest 2022 MCD polls after making amends and adopting a new strategy.

A senior Delhi BJP leader said although the by-poll results were ”upsetting” but they had no meaning with reference to the upcoming MCD polls. ”In 2016 MCD by-polls, we won only three seats, while the AAP and the Congress won five seats each out of the total 13. Yet we managed to stage a comeback and won the civic body polls in 2017 with a clear majority in the three municipal corporations,” he said.

The BJP is ruling the municipal corporations since 2007. In 2017 MCD polls, the party won 184 of the total 272 wards in three municipal corporations. AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, however, said that the by-poll results were a sign of the 2022 MCD poll outcome.

Published : March 04, 2021 09:28 AM IST

MCD by-polls: Rude shock to BJP; Cong, AAP vow to wipe it out in 2022 polls

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