Delhi MCD Elections 2022 LIVE Updates: Exit polls will be proven wrong, will return to rule civic body, says BJP

Ahead of the counting of votes for the MCD polls, the BJP on Tuesday exuded hope that the tide will turn in its favour even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed a "landslide" victory as predicted by exit polls. The exit polls on Monday showed that the AAP was going to sweep the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls by winning more than 150 of the 250 municipal wards with the BJP emerging a distant second. (PTI)

Amid heavy security, the 56,000 electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in the MCD polls were transferred to the 42 designated strongrooms/counting centres by late Sunday. The EVMs, with the mandate of 73,20,577 voters, will remain under tight vigil at these centres till the counting on Wednesday, said state election commission (SEC) officials.

Twenty companies of paramilitary personnel and over 10,000 officers of Delhi Police have been deployed at the 42 centres where votes for the civic polls in the national capital will be counted on Wednesday, officials said. Counting will begin at 8 am under tight security arrangements, they said.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday thanked the people of Delhi after exit polls predicted a win for the party in the Delhi municipal election and also said the prediction for the party in Gujarat was a "positive sign". Three exit polls on Monday predicted a clear win for the AAP in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls, with the BJP emerging a distant second. All the exit polls have given the Congress less than 10 seats. The results of the polls to 250 wards of MCD will be declared after the counting of votes on December 7.

Since the number of voters in each ward is not very high, EC officials said the results on most seats are likely to be announced by the afternoon.

Most of the strongrooms have been set up in schools, colleges and government offices. While eight of them are located in North district, seven in Central Delhi, and the minimum — one — in New Delhi district. West district has six centres while South, South East and South West have five each, said officials.

The North-East district reported the maximum voter turnout in the municipal polls on Sunday, according to the ward wise voting percentage released by the State Election Commission on Monday. The wards in this district are mostly Muslim-dominated and were affected by the riots of February 2020. Of the 12 municipal wards that recorded over 60% voting, six are from North-East Delhi — Chauhan Banger (61. 9%), Seelampur (61. 6%), Nand Nagri (60. 7%), Mustafabad (60. 6%), Nehru Vihar (61. 9%) and Brijpuri (62. 9%).

The capital this time witnessed its worst show in the past three local body elections by recording a meagre 50. 5 per cent voter turnout, almost three percentage points less in comparison to the 2017 and 2012 civic polls when people voted for atrifurcated Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

Amid heavy security, the 56,000 electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in the MCD polls were transferred to the 42 designated strongrooms/counting centres. The EVMs, with the mandate of 73,20,577 voters, will remain under tight vigil at these centres till the counting on Wednesday, said state election commission (SEC) officials.

The various exit polls published on Monday predicted a win for Aam Aadmi Party in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections, with at least 150 of 250 seats going in its kitty after a run of 15 years for BJP. While BJP is likely to trail AAP, the surveys have predicted a massive fall for Congress with the party’s tally likely to remain in a single digit. Alittle over 50% of the capital’s 1. 45 crore voters cast their votes on Sunday for the reunified Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the counting will take place on Wednesday. The exit polls, conducted byvarious media organisations, were telecast on Monday.

In the MCD elections, all the polls suggested a crushing victory for AAP, ending 15 years of BJP supremacy in the Delhi’s municipal body. The forecasts suggested that AAP could win a two-thirds majority while Congress would be left struggling to take its tally into double digits.