New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections winning 134 of the 250 municipal wards in the national capital. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 104 seats and has clearly fared better than the exit polls as no one had predicted them to win more than 91 seats, especially after 15 years of continuous rule.
Congress has managed to win just nine seats. Three Independent candidates, including Shakeela Begum from Seelampur in northeast Delhi, have also won. This was the first election after the MCD was reunified earlier this year. The polls, which took place on December 4, saw a voter turnout of only 50.48%.
The mood at the AAP office here was celebratory with loudspeakers blaring patriotic songs and the entire premises decked up with colourful balloons. AAP workers burst into celebrations as the party crossed the halfway mark.
Some of them were seen constantly tweeting as the final touches were being given to the office for celebrating what could be the party's first victory in municipal polls here. "Hum to bharosa tha ke AAP hi aayegi MCD mein is baar(We were confident of AAP's win in this MCD poll)," said a party worker blowing blue and yellow balloons at the office.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addressed party workers and people after the results. The high-stakes election to the 250 wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was held on December 4, sealing the electoral fate of 1,349 candidates in voting machines. The results of this election, largely touted as a three-cornered contest among a spirited AAP, a confident BJP and a hopeful Congress, may have ramifications beyond the national capital.
However, the exit polls, which came a day after the polling for MCD elections, predicted that AAP led by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will also rule the municipal corporation of the national capital for the first time. The polls predicted that BJP, which has won three successive civic elections in the national capital, will be ousted from power in the first election since the re-unification of the municipal corporations.
This was the first civic election after the fresh delimitation exercise. There were 272 wards in Delhi and three corporations - NDMC, SDMC, and EDMC in Delhi from 2012-2022 that later reunified into an MCD that had formally come into existence on May 22.
