Delhi: 50 per cent voting in MCD polls; both AAP, BJP claim victory

Around 50 per cent voting was recorded on Sunday in the election to the 250 municipal wards in Delhi with main rivals BJP and AAP claiming victory in the highstakes contestNo major glitches in electronic voting machines were reported and the voting passed off peacefully with high security observed at the 3360 critical booths in 493 locations where more than 25000 police personnel nearly 13000 home guards and 100 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed officials saidSeveral people in NorthEast Delhi and some other areas complained that their names were missing from the voters lists Anil Kumar the Delhi Congress president was among the people who could not vote The BJP said it has filed a complaint with the state election commission over the missing namesElection officials said that nearly 50 per cent polling was reported by 530 pm when the voting time ended However the figure is likely to rise as many people who reported before 530 pm and were queued up at the polling booths were casting their votesThe results will be announced on December 7Garbage collection and landfills emerged as one of the biggest issues in the fight between the Arvind Kejriwalled Aam Aadmi Party AAP and the BJP which has been controlling municipal bodies for 15 yearsThe polls are crucial for the AAP and its leader Arvind Kejriwal as they seek expansion of the party ahead of 2024 general elections in the countryA victory in the MCD polls will not only cement AAPs place in Delhi but will fuel its aspiration to emerge as a serious contender to the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the national sceneAlso Read Delhi MCD polls AAP BJP trade charges of violation of model code on polling dayThe BJP which had deployed its top leaders including national president JP Nadda 19 Union ministers like Rajnath Singh Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal and chief ministers of six states in the campaign is also seeking redemption through a moraleboosting victoryThe party received a drubbing at the hands of AAP in the 2020 Delhi Assembly polls and won just eight of the 70 seatsWith a unified MCD led by a mayor of the party the BJP can continue to challenge the AAP and Kejriwal in the national capitals politicsThere were 1349 candidates in the fray and over 145 crore electors were eligible to exercise their franchiseEarlier in the day Kejriwal urged people to exercise their franchise for setting up an honest establishment in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi that delivers resultsPeople should vote for the party that is honest and works Vote For those who focus on the cleanliness of the city and not those who keep creating hurdles Kejriwal told reporters after he cast his vote along with his parents wife and children at a polling booth in Civil Lines hereDelhi BJP president Adesh Gupta asserted that the BJP is returning to power with a clear majority in the MCD for the fourth time in a rowPeople have voted against the scams and false publicity of the Kejriwal government Gupta saidThe Congress which has suffered backtoback defeats in the national capital since 2015 in parliamentary assembly and municipal corporations polls is hoping to return from the wildernessMeanwhile several voters were disappointed after their names were missing from the voters listI came here to cast my vote for the first time I found that my name is not mentioned in the list Officials dont have a clue I am standing for the past few hours but nobody is helping me 19yearold Puneet Kumar saidAnil Kumar the Delhi Congress president also did not find his name on the listMy name is neither on the voters list nor on the deleted list My wife has voted Kumar said at a polling booth in Dallupura in East DelhiPolling booths in Bawanas Katewara village were all empty as the residents in the area boycotted elections alleging negligence from the civic bodyOne of the residents of Katewara village Krishna Vats claimed that the residents unanimously decided to boycott the elections at the polling booths in Nangal Thakran wardThe civic body as well as the Delhi government always neglected people here so why should we cast our votes Main roads are broken drains are clogged and MCD schools are in pathetic conditions here Vats told PTISanitation maintenance of parks and lack of parking facilities were the issues of concern for women who came out to voteDr Rehana Parveen a general physician who arrived at a pink booth on DDU Marg here to cast her vote flagged the issue of garbage collection from coloniesAmong the early voters was 106yearold Shanti Bala Vaidya at the Deputy Ganj polling station in the Bara Hindu Rao areaShe has not missed an election since she started voting said her daughter Kamla Vaidya 106 only understands Bengali but cannot talkSixty drones were used especially to maintain law and order in critical or sensitive booths of the national capitalMeanwhile the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party accused each other of violating the model code of conduct during votingDelhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor alleged that recorded messages of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealing to people to vote for the AAP were received by lakhs of people on the day of polling No immediate reaction was available from the Aam Aadmi PartyAAP MLA Dilip Pandey told reporters that people are going to punish the BJP for its 15 years of misrule of the civic bodies and Tiwari should stop crying foulAAP candidate from Pushp Vihar in South Delhi Arun Nawariya alleged BJP workers distributed money to influence votersThe erstwhile MCD established in 1958 was trifurcated in 2012 during Sheila Dikshits tenure as chief ministerBetween 2012 and 2022 Delhi had 272 wards and three corporations North Delhi South Delhi and East Delhi municipal corporations These three civic bodies were reunified into the Municipal Corporation of Delhi which came into existence on May 22In the 2017 civic election the BJP won 181 of the 270 wards Polling could not be held on two seats due to the death of candidates The AAP had won 48 wards and the Congress 27 The voting percentage that year was around 53 per centThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever