New Delhi Three former women mayors of Delhi who fought on BJP tickets emerged victorious in the civic polls on Wednesday, while an ex-mayor of North Delhi lost the contest in Civil Lines ward.
The elections to the 250 wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) were held on December 4 and the counting of votes was taken up on Wednesday.
Till around 3 PM, the AAP had won over 130 wards, crossing the majority mark of 126, while the BJP's tally stood at 104, according to State Election Commission figures. The Congress managed to bag nine wards and three Independent candidates were among the winners.
Exit polls had predicted a massive defeat for the BJP but the party put up a spirited fight. The initial counting trends put the BJP ahead of the AAP by a significant margin but the pendulum swung in favour of the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led party soon after.
Former women mayors Neema Bhagat, Satya Sharma and Kamaljeet Sehrawat won.
While Bhagat and Sharma have served as the East Delhi mayor in the past, Sehrawat is a former mayor of South Delhi.
The three municipal corporations -- North, South and East Delhi Municipal Corporations -- were reunified into a single entity in May 2022 and elections were held following a fresh delimitation exercise.
Bhagat, who won from Geeta Colony ward, told PTI, "I am very happy, and there is a celebratory mood in our area. Party workers are playing drums, dancing and taking selfies. Our party has given a good fight in the civic polls." Sehrawat, who registered a victory in Dwarka-B ward, took to Twitter to thank voters. Sharma won from Gautam Puri ward.
Former north Delhi mayor Avtar Singh bit the dust in Civil Lines ward, losing to AAP's Vikas by a margin of 6,953 votes.
Three Independent candidates, including Shakeela Begum from Seelampur in northeast Delhi, also won.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)