It’s a do-or-die situation for the newly-elected Councillors

The winning candidates of the MCD bypolls would not have the luxury of a honeymoon period. The 13 wards were without Councilors for the last couple of years and this had badly affected the civic services in the localities. The voters have very high expectations from their newly-elected Councilors.

These 13 wards had to go for polls because of the former Councilors getting elected to Delhi Assembly in 2013 and 2015.

The residents of Balimarman who elected Aam Aadmi Party’s Mohd Sadiq, expect their new Councilor to boost basic civic services in their locality. “We voted for the AAP candidate because we thought that a Councilor from the same party would able to coordinate smoothly with the Delhi government to improve the basic civic services in our area. Now when the results are in favour of the AAP contender, we hope fast growth of the ward,” said an elderly local.

The residents of Ambedkar Chowk, Munirka, are of the opinion that their new councilor Yogitha Rathi 

of Congress has to start working early to improve civic services. They expect their new Councilor to immediately improve water supply, fasten waste collection and to restore the narrow alleys in their locality.

“She will be the Councilor of Munirka for only 8 to 9 months, as the next MCD polls are scheduled in 

2017. If she does work seriously in that time, she would be thrown out in the next polls. It is as simple as that,” says a resident.

For Chander Kali (60) years, installation of CCTV in her alley to augment women safety and to prevent thefts in her locality is the main demand. She had been promised so by each candidate. 

“Each candidate has come to my doorstep and has promised to install cameras. Now that results have been declared, I am expecting that the new Councilor will ensure that the cameras are installed,” she said adding, “Yogitha Rathi is a woman herself.” The Munirka ward was a women-only seat reserved only for women.

“The issue of constructing community hall has been a long standing demand of our locality. All parties had promised to set up community hall. Since the new councilor is elected for only few months, it would be childish to expect that it would be constructed in such short time. However, if he does not initiates the process to construct then in the next election Congress candidate might have to face defeat,” said Rohit Kain, a shopkeeper in Khichripur area in East Delhi.