MCD Results: AAP Dethrones BJP, Ending A 15-Year Rule, Crosses Winning Mark Of 126 Wards

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections, crossing the majority mark with 126 seats, the State Election Commission (SEC) for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls declared.

Aam Aadmi Party workers celebrate Delhi MCD election results on Wednesday

Source : PTI

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections, crossing the majority mark with 126 seats, the State Election Commission (SEC) for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls declared.

Meanwhile, BJP has so far secured 97 seats in the Delhi municipal corporation polls. Congress has won from six wards. Independent candidates won 3 seats and were leading on 3. Votes are still being counted.

With 250 wards in MCD, a party needs 126 to win.

AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj exuded confidence his party will emerge victorious.

"We will win more than 180 seats. We have decked up our office... The BJP did not cite any achievement of their 15-year tenure in the MCD during the campaigning," he told the media at the party office.

The run-up to the polls saw a fierce battle between the ruling BJP and the AAP which has been predicted as the winner by exit polls.

Delhi recorded a voter turnout of 50.48 per cent in the high-stakes municipal polls held on December 4. Data shared by the Delhi Election Commission shows that upscale neighbourhoods of South Delhi saw the lowest voter turnout in the municipal polls. Rural pockets and parts of Northeast Delhi, where riots took place in 2020, saw the highest polling percentages.

A total of 1,349 candidates contested the elections, the first since three civic bodies were unified earlier this year.

In 2017, BJP had won 181 of the (then) 270 municipal wards while AAP could secure only 48 and Congress finished third with 30. 

Authorities had set up 13,638 polling stations across Delhi for the exercise.

This was also the first civic polls held in the national capital after the February 2020 riots in Delhi, and according to data shared by officials, 3,360 booths, spanning 493 locations, were identified in critical or sensitive categories.