The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defeated the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) zonal ward poll that took place on Wednesday amid a heavy deployment of police personnel to prevent any untoward incident.
The elections were held through secret ballot in accordance with the Delhi Municipal Corporation Regulations, 1958. After its unification, the MCD elections for 250 wards were held for the first time in 2022.
The voting was held in two clusters of all MCD zones, held simultaneously with councillors of five zones casting their votes together, while the remaining zones went to polls separately.
MCD Election Results | Key Points
Poll Takes Place Amid Uncertainity: Till Tuesday evening, the poll were clouded by uncertainty as Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi refused to appoint the presiding officers to conduct the elections saying her conscience does not allow her to participate in an "undemocratic election process". However, in a last-minute intervention, Lt Governor V K Saxena late Tuesday night asked MCD commissioner to notify deputy commissioners of all zones as presiding officers, paving way for the elections to take place.
BJP Bags Key Posts: The BJP secured the posts of chairman, deputy chairman of the zonal-level ward committees, and one member each for standing committee in seven of 12 zones, restricting AAP to five zones in the MCD poll. AAP won Karol Bagh and City SP where voting did not take place as the BJP did not field a candidate, while in Keshav Puram, BJP was the sole candidate in fray.
Big Wins: The BJP bagged Narela, Civil Lines, Keshav Puram, Shahdara North, Najafgarh, Shahdara South, and Central Zones. Apart from uncontested Karol Bagh, AAP won West, South, City SP and Rohini zones. Pawan Shehrawat and Sugandha, the councillors who recently switched sides from the AAP to BJP, won the post of chairman for the ward committees from Narela and Central zones, respectively.
Civil Lines Zone: Civil Lines Zone saw a keen contest between the AAP and BJP with the latter winning all three posts by a margin of one vote each. Anil Kumar Tyagi defeated Ajeet Singh Yadav by polling 10 votes, while Rekha triumphed over her rival Gagan Chaudhary similarly. Former North Delhi mayor and BJP leader of opposition in MCD Raja Iqbal Singh defeated Promila Gupta of AAP by polling 10 votes as against nine by her.
Karol Bagh Zone: In the Karol Bagh Zone, AAP councillor Rakesh Joshi was elected unopposed as chairman of the ward committee, while Jyoti Gautam and Ankush Narang bagged the posts of deputy chairman and member of the standing committee in the absence of any BJP candidate.
City SP Zone: AAP candidates Mohd Sadiq, Kiran Bala, and Punardeep Singh Sawhney were elected unopposed as chairman, deputy chairman of the ward committee, and member of the standing committee from City SP Zone in the absence of any candidates from the BJP.
South Zone: In South Zone, cross voting led to a tie between the BJP and AAP. Through lottery, the AAP won the zonal chairman post. The party's candidates also won the posts of chairman and standing committee member.
Rohini: In Rohini, AAP's Suman Anil Rana won the president's post by defeating her BJP rival. Dharam Rakshak and Daulat bagged the posts of deputy chairman and standing committee member after the BJP candidates withdrew nominations for the two posts. In the West Zone, the BJP candidates withdrew their nominations for the three posts. Former East Delhi mayor Neema Bhagat was elected as a standing committee member from Shahdara South Zone.
Shahdara North Zone: The Shahdara North Zone saw BJP candidates emerging victorious after defeating their Congress rivals. The voting for the ward committee polls in the zone went on for the longest time. The Congress, which has nine councillors, had fielded candidates from the Shahdara North Zone. AAP candidates withdrew their nomination for the post of chairman and deputy chairman, while Congress candidate withdrew her nomination from the standing committee member.
