Delhi Civic bypolls: AAP, Congress win 5 seats each

BJP vote share rises marginally to 34.11%

Battered and shattered Delhi Congress, which was completely washed off in the recent Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, got an electrifying increase in vote share in the byelections in 13 municipal wards. The Congress not only grabbed four wards, but also managed to bring back its rebel candidate, Rajender Singh Tanwar, the lone Independent candidate who won in Bhatti, back to its fold. The AAP, which had logged maximum votes in all the 13 wards in the last Assembly poll, could register its win in only five wards. The BJP, whose candidates had won seven of these wards in 2012 municipal polls, only retained three wards.

The Delhi Congress’ performance improved both in term of seats and vote share in the civic bypolls. Interestingly, during the Assembly elections 2015, the Congress vote share in these 13 wards was 7.99 per cent, which has jumped significantly to 24.87 per cent in the bypoll. The BJP’s vote share has increased marginally to 34.11 per cent compared to 32.08 in the Assembly elections, while the AAP vote share has plummeted greatly from 57.49 per cent to 29.93 per cent.

The Congress won the four municipal wards — Quamuruddin Nagar, Munirka, Khichripur and Jhilmil. After announcement of results, Mr Tanwar who had contested independently and won from Bhatti ward, joined his parent party, the Delhi Congress, taking its tally to five out of 13 wards. In the 2012 municipal elections, the Congress had failed to win any one of these 13 wards. As the trends and results started coming in favour of the Congress, party workers arrived at Rajiv Bhawan, the Delhi state office, to celebrate their victory. They distributed sweets and burst firecrackers. However, the Delhi BJP office wore deserted look. No BJP leader was available in the party’s state office. After lunch, Delhi BJP general secretary Ashish Sood reached the party office at Pant Marg and strongly defended party performance.

Congress candidate Ashok Bharadwaj won Quamuruddin Nagar by the highest margin. He defeated its rival Anil Sinha of the BJP by 7,434 votes. AAP candidate Anil Malik from Nanakpura won by the lowest victory margin of 522 votes by defeating BJP’s Nitin Sharma.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal congratulated Delhi residents for voting for AAP victory in five civic wards. The party boasted that it has managed to trounce the saffron party which rules the civic bodies.

“MCD ruled by BJP-Congress. Outsider AAP wins maximum seats in byelection. Thnx Delhi for reaffirming faith. Ab MCD election mein sabhi seat jeetni hain (sic),” Mr Kejriwal tweeted.