MCD election results: Delhi backs BJP, puts AAP on notice for 2020 state polls
MCD elections results showed BJP won 181 seats out of 270 across 3 Delhi municipal corporations, setting the stage for a face-off with AAP in 2020 assembly elections
New Delhi: The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continued its run of spectacular electoral performances in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) election results and won a third consecutive term. The party won 181 of the total 270 seats across three municipal corporations.
The decisive MCD election results put the two-year old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) regime in the capital on notice and summarily rejected the Congress again—in the Delhi assembly elections in 2015, the country’s oldest party had drawn a blank. In the process, the BJP has set the stage for a fresh face-off with AAP in the 2020 assembly elections.
MCD election results: Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP says it’s EVM wave, not Modi wave
The BJP improved on its performance in 2012 when it won 138 seats in the civic polls. The party fought the elections on a decisively pro-poor campaign—a significant shift from the past—blunting the edge AAP had enjoyed previously.
“Grateful to the people of Delhi for the faith in BJP. I laud the hardwork of team @BJP4Delhi (BJP Delhi) which made the resounding MCD win possible," Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted after the results were declared.
For the Congress, the verdict was a rude wake up call. Not only was it relegated to the third place the party’s strength in the civic bodies has shrunk further—from 77 seats in 2012 it is now reduced to 30.
At the state level, the Congress governed Delhi for three consecutive terms before it suffered its most humiliating defeat in the 2015 assembly election. Congress’s Delhi president Ajay Maken offered to resign from his post, owning responsibility, but sought to see the brighter side.
MCD election results: What next for Congress?
“It is a reasonable revival of the Congress but I had hoped for something better than this. So, as the president of Delhi Congress, I take moral responsibility and I have decided to resign from my post," he told reporters.
Still, the poll results triggered an internal strife within the state unit of the Congress after three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit blaming the state leadership led by Maken for the party’s performance.
Political analyst say AAP under Arvind Kejriwal erred in not consolidating its hold in Delhi before proceeding to expand in Goa and Punjab. “Arvind Kejriwal has been unable to hold on to the victory in assembly polls and indulged in negative politics. He should have consolidated his position and then tried to spread his wings. But we should not start writing political obituaries of parties and leaders on the basis of municipal elections," said Subrata Mukherjee, New Delhi-based political analyst and former political science professor at Delhi University.
The 2020 face off with the BJP will depend on what the latter does with its mandate.
“The MCD election result is a vote against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his government for not fulfilling the promises made by the party. The landslide victory of BJP is also an expression of dislike for the incumbent AAP," said Bidyut Chakrabarty, a political science professor at Delhi University.
gyan.v@livemint.com
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