Campaigning by AAP, Congress and BJP candidates in race for municipal byelections in 13 wards on Sunday ended on Friday evening.
Campaigning by AAP, Congress and BJP candidates in race for municipal byelections in 13 wards on Sunday ended on Friday evening. The byelections have become a triangular contest after the AAP made its debut, fielding candidates for the bypolls in 13 civic wards.
To woo voters, all the political parties left no stone unturned and deployed heavyweights for campaigning. Senior Congress leaders Gulam Nabi Azad and Raj Babbar among others sought votes for their party candidates. For the BJP, Lok Sabha members representing Delhi, including star campaigner Manoj Tiwari (North East Delhi MP), campaigned for votes.
AAP MLAs have managed campaigns for their party candidates in absence of party chief Arvind Kejriwal. Unlike Mr Kejriwal, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, however, addressed a few election rallies.
On Friday, under the leadership of Delhi BJP treasurer Shyam Lal Garg, a delegation of senior party leaders met Delhi state election commissioner Rakesh Mehta and submitted a factual complaint demanding removal of the hoardings and posters of the chief minister and other ministers in the entire state, especially in the wards going to polls on Sunday. “The delegation told the election commissioner that these hoardings and posters are open violation of model code of conduct and should be immediately removed,” said the BJP delegation.
The team also informed the election commissioner about sensitive polling booths, especially in Ballimaran, Nawada, Matiala, Vikas Nagar, Tehkhand, Bhati and demanded special security measures there.
On last day of campaigning, former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar and former MLA Mukesh Sharma canvassed for the party’s candidate in Nawada. Attacking the BJP and the AAP, both of them said the two parties were responsible for the pathetic condition of the ward as no development work had taken place here for the past many months.
At the end of campaigning, Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken said his candidates have been getting overwhelming support in all the wards. “The voters’ response towards the Congress candidates was a clear indication that the Congress would win the MCD bypolls with thumping margins. Delhiites are fed up with the misrule of the AAP and the BJP as these parties had made many tall promises, only to let people down and betray them as no ground level work has been done for the development. Not only the law and order situation has worsened in Delhi, but also no step has been taken to address the pressing problems of the people,” added Mr Maken.
