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MCD polls: BJP proves poll pundits wrong, improves vote share
The party secured a vote share of 39.09%, up from 36.08% in 2017, when the BJP won 181 of the 272 wards. This time, the three erstwhile civic bodies were merged and the number of wards reduced to 250. Three exit polls had predicted that the BJP will win between 69 and 94 seats in the MCD elections.
After three straight terms in control of the Capital’s civic bodies, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections on Wednesday but put up a strong performance in improving its vote share and winning 104 wards, far beyond what many experts and all exit polls had predicted.
The party secured a vote share of 39.09%, up from 36.08% in 2017, when the BJP won 181 of the 272 wards. This time, the three erstwhile civic bodies were merged and the number of wards reduced to 250.
Three exit polls had predicted that the BJP will win between 69 and 94 seats in the MCD elections.
Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta conceded defeat, but added, “The people of Delhi have given us almost 40% vote share along with 104 wards, and the responsibility to work as a strong Opposition. We will constructively keep raising the issues concerning public welfare.”
Responding to a query on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) running a sustained campaign against the BJP on sanitation, Gupta said, “We hope that the AAP will clear all the three landfill sites within next six months and will immediately fulfil their commitment to all sections of society, especially the resident welfare associations.”
In 2020, the BJP had received a drubbing in the assembly elections, winning just eight seats.
Despite the party being some distance short of the halfway mark, BJP leader Amit Malviya exuded confidence. “Now over to electing a mayor for Delhi… It will all depend on who can hold the numbers in a close contest, which way the nominated councillors vote etc. Chandigarh has a BJP mayor, for instance,” he tweeted.
Malviya was hinting at the scope for cross voting in the poll to elect the mayor -- who is the head of the elected House of the councillors -- since the anti-defection law does not apply to this election. Therefore, the single-largest party in the House may not necessarily win the mayoral polls.
Senior BJP leader and Rohini lawmaker Vijender Gupta pointed out that the BJP won its highest vote share in the last 25 years.
“The vote share of 39.09% is the highest the BJP has got in the municipal and assembly elections in Delhi in the past 25 years. In 1993, we got more than 40% votes in the municipal polls. The increase in the BJP vote share shows that the party still has public support. This is a vote against [Arvind] Kejriwal as AAP’s vote share has slipped to just 42.05% from 53.5% within a span of two years,” he said.
The AAP got 53.5% votes in the 2020 assembly elections, but state-level polls and municipality elections cannot always be compared.
The BJP performed particularly well in east Delhi, winning 35 of the 61 wards spread across 16 assembly constituencies. Of these 16 assembly seats, the AAP represents 10.
But it faced setbacks in Patel Nagar, Badarpur and New Delhi.
In Patel Nagar assembly constituency -- considered a stronghold of Gupta -- the party lost all four wards. It also lost in urban south Delhi seats such as Hauz Khas, Vasant Vihar, CR Park, Rajinder Nagar and Baljit Nagar.
In Badarpur -- the assembly constituency represented by leader of the opposition in Delhi assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri -- the BJP lost four of the five wards.
In the New Delhi parliamentary constituency, the the party won just five of the 25 wards.
“In Manish Sisodia, Kailash Gahlot, Satyendar Jain and Atishi’s constituencies, the AAP candidates performed poorly. In Gopal Rai’s constituency, the party lost three of the four wards. This result is a statement on Kejriwal’s education, health and development model. They are neck-deep in corruption and scams,” said senior Delhi BJP leader Ashish Sood.
An AAP spokesperson did not respond to Ashish Sood’s comment, but Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said that the people of Delhi chose a staunchly “honest party over the world’s most negative party”. “For us, this is not just a victory, it is a big responsibility,” tweeted Sisodia.
Some prominent BJP faces who won include Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Shikha Rai, Raja Iqbal Singh and Neema Bhagat, among others.
Experts said that the postponement of the MCD elections in April gave much-needed time to the BJP to recoup and take on the AAP that had swept the Punjab assembly polls. They said that the party countered the AAP’s high-pitched campaign centred on sanitation by showcasing flats for the slum dwellers under the ‘Jahan Jhuggi, wahan makan’. It also launched a counter-offensive on AAP by raising allegations against ministers Sisodia and Jain.
Sanjay Kumar, professor at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) and a political analyst, said that despite its defeat, the BJP was able to retain its voter base.
“It would be wrong to call it a crushing defeat. The party’s (BJP) vote share has increased, and the difference between the two party’s vote share is just around 2.5%. The AAP won the elections, but the BJP retained its support base. The AAP managed to increase its vote share by winning voters from the Congress’s kitty,” said Kumar.
