BJP tramples AAP, Cong in Delhi

The BJP on Wednesday decimated the opposition to grab power in all the three civic bodies in Delhi. The emphatic victory not only ensured a third successive term for the party in Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) but also spun the two rivals AAP and the Congress into a cycle of resignations and unruly infighting.

AAP turned out to be the biggest loser winning only 48 out of the 270 seats. The party, which stormed to power in Delhi just two years ago, was relegated to a distant second position as the BJP won 182 municipal wards.

The Congress, which was hoping for a revival after suffering crushing defeat in the 2015 assembly elections, was a distant third managing only 30 seats.

AAP blamed malfunctioning of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for the defeat but there were differences within the party if it was a valid excuse. After his party spokespersons made a hue and cry over the faulty EVMs, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, congratulated the BJP for the victory in a tweet.

AAP’s leader Alka Lamba offered to quit following the defeat and its Delhi convener Dilip Pandey resigned. Lamba did not endorse her party’s claim that the EVMs were tampered.

The Congress, which saw several key leaders quitting the party ahead of polls including former Delhi minister Arvinder Singh Lovely who joined the BJP, plunged into further crisis.

City Congress chief Ajay Maken offered to quit despite claiming that the party had made some improvement over 2015 when its vote share had come down to a paltry nine percent. Dealing a blow on his leadership, former Sheila Dikshit said she was never involved for campaigning in the civic polls. Maken lamented that Sheila and her son Sandeep Dikshit, a former MP, have been his known critics.

The resonance of Congress defeat in Delhi was felt in Maharashtra where its senior leader Gurudas Kamat resigned the party. Kamat had been at the loggerheads with the party leadership for some time and chose to quit again.

The BJP got 40 per cent vote share, while 25 per cent voters preferred AAP. The Congress got 21 per cent votes.

The BJP hailed the victory as endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies. Party president Amit Shah said that people have rejected negative politics.

The BJP victory came despite an anti-incumbency of 10 years of rule. The party had removed all the sitting corporators to field new faces and the strategy worked.

The BJP's corporation-wise tally is: SDMC - 70, NDMC - 64 and EDMC - 47 as against AAP's 16, 21 and 11 and Congress' 12, 15 and 3 wards.

The crushing defeat of AAP came as a major setback for Arvind Kejriwal who has come in criticism for his style of functioning. The party’s national ambition were also seen as one of the major reasons for the debacle. Before the MCD polls, AAP failed to make a dent in Punjab and Goa, the two states where it had carried out a high-voltage campaign.

Meanwhile, After losing to the BJP in Delhi civic polls, the Congress on Wednesday pitched for opposition unity, saying the regional parties should realise that "blind anti- Congressism" will not work.

AICC incharge of communications department Randeep Surjewala said the parties must put the country first in the "battle of ideologies", remarks which come in the backdrop of attempts by leaders like JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee to rally anti-BJP forces to stop the saffron juggernaut.

He also congratulated the BJP for its emphatic victory in Delhi MCD elections, in which Congress has been relegated to the third spot, and hoped it will work for a clean, corruption-free and development driven Delhi. Lauding the Congress workers for the increase in the vote share in Delhi, he said the party will work hard for a new narrative.