The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday appeared to be maintaining a comfortable lead on main opposition Congress in the early hours of the counting for the total 272 wards in three civic bodies carved out of the existing Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Tuesday.
Of the 17 results declared by the State Election Commission so far, BJP has bagged 16 wards in all the three corporations while Congress has won one seat.
According to latest trends available till 11.30 am for the total 272 wards, BJP is ahead in 142 seats, Congress in 85, BSP in 12 seats, while independents were leading in 33 seats.
In South Delhi Corporation, BJP has won or is leading in as many as 49 out of the 104 wards while Congress candidates are ahead in 30 seats. Interestingly, the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) is ahead in 19 seats, while others are surging slowly in 6 seats.
BJP, which is leading in 60 seats has a thin edge over the main opposition Congress in North Delhi as the latter is ahead in 31 seats for which trends are available.
In East Delhi Corporation, BJP is surging ahead in 34 seats, while Congress is said to be moving closer to its rival as it leads in 20 seats.
North Delhi:
In North Delhi Municipal Corporation, the trends are available for the total 104 seats where the BJP is leading in 60 seats, the principle opposition Congress party is ahead with 31, while the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) is ahead in four seats while independents are leading in nine seats.
East Delhi:
Out of 64 wards, BJP is said to be leading in 34 seats, Congress in 20 and BSP is moving ahead on 3 seats, while independents are reported to be going strong in 7 seats.
South Delhi :
In the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, the trends are available for total 104 seats. Here, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in 48 seats, the main opposition Congress party is ahead with 36, while the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) has gained lead in 15 seats. Independents here are leading in five seats.
South has the highest number of 904 candidates followed by North (885) and East (634).
The first result to be declared was that of Shahdara (SC) in East Corporation where BJP’s Balbir Singh defeated Congress’ Jagdish by a margin of 1,28 votes. Singh polled 6,809 votes while his nearest rival got 5,571 votes.
BJP’s Subhash Arya, the Leader of undivided MCD House, trumped his rival from Congress Manmohan Singh Kochar.
Delhi BJP chief Vijender Gupta’s wife Shobha has won in Rohini Central defeating her Congress rival Dr Monica Puri. Delhi Mayor Rajni Abbi (BJP) is also leading in Mukherjee Nagar. Among prominent candidates who have won the election in their respective wards are: Dharmveer (Congress) from RK Puram, Radhey Shyam (BJP) from Vasant Vihar, Tulsi Ram from Dharampura, BJP’s Deputy Mayor Anil Sharma has also won with a comfortable margin. Pramila Tukas, who contested as an independent candidate from Munirka, has also tasted success.
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Counting of MCD votes underway
The Delhi State Election Commission has set up counting centres at 32 places across the city for counting of votes for the recently trifurcated Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls.
The counting of votes has started at 33 locations. State Election Commissioner Rakesh Mehta said, “We have made elaborate arrangements for counting of votes. All results will be made available by 3 PM.”
A total of 2,423 candidates have contested from 272 wards, which saw a record 58 percent turnout on Sunday.
The outcome of the municipal polls is seen as crucial for Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Congress as well as opposition BJP with leaders believing that it could be an indicator for what is in store for the Assembly polls which is 18 months away.
BJP, which has 164 councilors in the undivided MCD against Congress’ 67 and BSP’s 17, harped on alleged corruption by Dikshit government, while Congress targeted the saffron party on its “inefficient and corrupt” administration in MCD.
The run-up to the polls also saw some embarrassment for BJP when one of its candidates, a sitting councilor, was arrested for allegedly murdering a party worker, who was opposed to him.
A total of 1.12 crore eligible voters exercised their franchise in the polls which include 42.95 lakh voters in North Delhi Municipal Corporation, 42.67 lakh voters in South Delhi Municipal Corporation and 27.16 lakh voters in East Delhi Municipal Corporation.
There are 104 each wards in South and North Corporations and 64 in the East, of which 138 seats are reserved for women. South has the highest number of 904 candidates followed by North (885) and East (634).
The main contenders are BJP and Congress, but smaller parties like Samajwadi Party and BSP are giving sleepless nights to them.
Though in public both the parties make claims about clean sweep in the elections, leaders in Congress and BJP are keeping their fingers crossed as the polls are nearing.
Presence of rebels and independents are also keeping both the parties on their toes as they believe that they could play spoilsport for them. The two parties have also expelled a number of leaders to send a strong message to their cadre.