MCD bypolls: AAP makes debut, victorious in 5 seats

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made debut in the Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCD) bypolls winning the highest number of seats. The party won five out of 13 seats that went to polls emphasising on the fact that the next target was to win all the seats in the civic body polls scheduled in 2017.

The BJP, which had won seven wards in 2012 MCD elections where bypolls took place, faced a setback as it managed to retain only three seats and the Congress, principal opposition in the three BJP-ruled Corporations, increased its tally from zero to four. Despite witnessing a close contest between the three major political parties —AAP, BJP and Congress — an independent candidate managed to win one seat. Debutant AAP, which had maximum stake in the bypolls, acknowledged that the result was not as “overwhelming” as it had expected and said it would examine the reason behind it. “MCD ruled by BJP-Congress. Outsider AAP wins maximum seats in the by-election. Thnx Delhi for reaffirming faith. Ab MCD election mein sabhi seat jeetni hain (now we will win majority of seats in the next MCD election),” party chief Arvind Kejriwal tweeted minutes after result went in favour of his party.

Senior party leader and Convener of the Delhi unit, Dilip Pandey, said: “AAP has emerged as the largest party in the by-polls. This means it is bigger than BJP and Congress. This was our debut and it was a great learning experience. We had expected a few more seats. We will examine why the result didn’t match our expectations. For this, we will hold discussions with the MLAs to assess what went wrong.” As the result went in favour of AAP, volunteers started celebrating the victory at the Rouse Avenue-located party office.

The AAP won from Matiala, Tehkhand, Nanakpura, Vikas Nagar and Ballimaran while BJP managed victory in Wazirpur, Nawada and Shalimar Bagh (North) wards. The Congress, which had failed to open its account in last assembly elections, won from Quamruddin Nagar, Jhilmil, Khichripur and Munirka while an Independent, a Congress rebel, was declared winner from Bhati Mines ward.

Among prominent candidates who were in fray, AAP’s Anil Malik won Nanakpura seat by 552 votes while AAP’s Abhishek Bidhuri won Tehkhand seat by 1,555 votes. BJP’s Mahender Nagpal won from Wazirpur ward by 3,608 votes. Congress candidate from Jhilmil, Pankaj Luthra, won by 10,318 votes defeating BJP’s former MLA Jitender Singh Shunty. BJP’s Krishan Gehlot won Nawada seat by 4,843 votes. As per the State Election Commission data a total of 3,06,677 people or 45.90 per cent voters had exercised their franchise. With 91,775 votes in favour, AAP got 29.93 per cent votes. BJP got votes of 1,04, 621 people which was 34.11 per cent of the total vote cast. The Congress, however, got 76,267 votes amounting to 24.87 per cent.