New Delhi, May 17: The BJP on Tuesday suffered drastic losses in by-elections to Delhi’s civic bodies, successful solely three of the 13 seats. First-timer AAP acquired 5 seats and the Congress 4. An unbiased who additionally received later joined the Congress.
Both Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress leader Ajay Maken claimed victory.
Kejriwal mentioned the individuals of Delhi had reaffirmed their faith within the Aam Aadmi Party, which stormed to energy in meeting elections in February final yr.
He stated that in a municipal physique the place solely the BJP and Congress had a presence, “outsider AAP” had gained the utmost seats.
He vowed to comb when contemporary elections had been held subsequent 12 months for the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC).
The three our bodies initially made up the Delhi Municipal Corporation (MCD), the town’s largest civic physique.
The Congress, worn out in final yr’s meeting polls, mentioned the poor had begun to return to its fold.
“The standard Congress voters together with safai karmacharis, road distributors and slum dwellers have returned to the Congress fold,” its chief Ajay Maken instructed the media.
“The minority vote has additionally shifted to the Congress,” he mentioned. The Congress bagged 4 seats regardless of the “cash, muscle and administrative energy of the AAP and BJP“, he added.
The outcomes upset the BJP, which controls all three civic bodies. It retained solely two of seven wards it gained in 2012 whereas wresting one seat. It misplaced two seats every to Congress and AAP and one to an unbiased.
