BJP fails to retain seat
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday won four of the five municipal wards in Delhi in the bypolls. The Congress managed to win one seat by defeating the AAP candidate from the minority-dominated Chauhan Bangar ward.
The AAP retained three wards — Rohini-C, Trilokpuri and Kalyanpuri — and also snatched the Shalimar Bagh ward from the BJP which failed to open its account.
AAP’s Dhirender Kumar won the Kalyanpuri ward by 7,043 votes, Vijay Kumar from Trilokpuri by defeating the BJP’s Om Prakash by a margin of 4,986 votes, Sunita Mishra defeated Surbhi Jaju of the BJP in Shalimar Bagh ward by 2,705 votes, Ram Chander defeated BJP candidate Rakesh Goyal by 2,985 votes in Rohini C ward.
However, the AAP suffered a defeat in Chauhan Bangar ward, where Chaudhary Zubair Ahmad of the Congress defeated the party’s candidate Mohammad Ishraq Khan by a whopping margin of 10,642 votes.
“The people of Delhi have once again voted in the name of work. Congratulations to all. The people are fed up with misrule of the BJP at MCD for 15 years. People are desperate to bring the AAP to rule the MCD,” Kejriwal tweeted after the party’s victory.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, “Today’s result shows that the people of Delhi have immense faith in party and the Government led by Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP had termed these by-elections as ‘semi-finals’ to the 2022 MCD elections, the people have shown that the result of the 2022 elections will be a unanimous verdict in favour of the AAP.”
However, Delhi BJP general secretary Harsh Malhotra said, “No doubt that the results of municipal by-elections are not up to our expectations but we respect the verdict of the people. We will deeply study the election results, identify the reasons for defeat and will surely win the 2022 municipal elections of Delhi.”
“We honour the mandate given by people. Losing Shalimar Bagh North is a matter of introspection. The shortcomings will be removed and I am sure the BJP will win the 2022 elections for three municipal corporations,” said Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta.
AAP national spokesperson and MLA Raghav Chadha said, “The AAP wins 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. Rajya mein bhi Kejriwal, MCD mein bhi Kejriwal, Phir chalegi double engine ki Kejriwal sarkar” he said.
“The four party councillors who won the elections today will work towards making their respective wards as ‘Model Wards’. The work of Kejriwal such as zero-water bill, zero-electricity bill and free travel for women on the bus among other things are highly appreciated. The dream of making Delhi a world-class city is now the dream of the people and the people will vote unanimously for the AAP and bring the Kejriwal Government to all three municipal bodies,” said AAP MLA from Kalkaji Atishi.
Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar said the Congress put up an impressive show in the by-elections. “The party candidate Zubair Ahamad won from the Chauhan Banger ward in Seelampur and the party’s overall vote share rose from six per cent in the last Assembly elections to 22 per cent now. While the BJP suffered a 10 per cent reduction in its vote percentage while the AAP’s votes share reduced by 5.50 per cent,” he said.
“We have the trust of the people and confidence and the results show that the Congress will win the MCD elections due next year in 2022,” he added.
The AAP polled the highest 46.10 per cent votes in the bypolls, followed by 27.29 per cent by the BJP and 21.84 per cent by the Congress, according to the State Election Commission.
