Eyes on AAP as it makes debut in municipal polls

New Delhi: After its failure to open an account in Goa and to gain a majority in the Punjab state elections, all eyes are on debutant Aam Aadmi Party which will be facing a crucial test in the upcoming polls for 272 municipal wards in the national capital on April 22.

The civic polls will also be a referendum on the AAP government’s performance after its electrifying victory, winning 67 of the 70 Assembly seats in 2015.

The party’s major challenge will be the BJP which has been ruling the three municipal bodies for 10 consecutive years. The polls will also throw a challenge before the Congress which could not retain even a single Assembly seat even after ruling the city for 15 years.

Announcing the poll dates, State Election Commission chief Sanjay Srivastava said that the results will be announced on April 25. The nomination process will begin from March 27 and April 3 would be the last date for filing nominations.

“The party welcomes the poll dates announced by the honourable election commission. The BJP and the Congress have turned Delhi into a garbage bin and a den of corruption. People of Delhi will exercise their franchise in the upcoming polls to wipe out the BJP and Congress — just the way they did in the Assembly polls two years ago,” AAP Delhi convenor Dilip Pandey said. He reiterated his party’s demand for the use of paper ballots in the upcoming civic polls.

Incidentally, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has expressed reservations about electronic voting machines (EVMs) and sought the use of ballot papers in the civic polls.

Asked to respond to Mr Keriwal seeking use of the traditional mode of exercising franchise, Mr Srivastava said, “Voting through EVMs is very safe. And, if the polls are to be held through ballot then some of the rules have to be amended.”

“We started the preparations for the polls keeping in mind use of EVMs only. The dates have been assigned accordingly,” the State Election Commissioner said.

The erstwhile unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi was trifurcated in 2012 into North, South and East Municipal Corporation or NDMC, SDMC and EDMC, respectively. The BJP has been ruling the MCD since 2007. The last polls were held in 2012.

The much-awaited polls will decide the fate of 272 councillors. While the NDMC and SMDC have 104 seats each, the EDMC has 64 seats.

A total number of 1,32,10,206 are eligible to vote in the next month’s civic polls. It includes 73,15,915 men, 58,93,418 women and 793 voters in the other category, the state election commission said.

The expenditure limit for a candidate has been hiked from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 5.75 lakh, the commission said.