Delhi MCD election results: The stage is set for the vote counting in high-stakes civic body election in the national capital. The counting will be held on Wednesday (December 7) for the 250-ward of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Counting will begin at 8 am under tight security arrangements, poll official said. The voting was held on December 4.
Tight security arrangement
Twenty companies of paramilitary personnel and over 10,000 officers of Delhi Police have been deployed at the 42 centres where votes for the civic polls in the national capital will be counted. Besides the counting centres, heavy police presence will also be ensured outside the offices of political parties. Adequate security personnel will also be deployed to prevent clashes between activists of different parties.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Public Relations) Suman Nalwa said adequate security arrangements had been made for the day of counting. The police are also keeping tabs on strongrooms where Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are stored and the counting centres.
Another official of Delhi Police said, "We have deployed more than 10,000 personnel from local and district levels at the 42 counting centres along with 20 companies of the Central Armed Police Force.
Elated Kejriwal congratulates Delhiites after exit polls predict AAP win
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday congratulated the people of Delhi after exit polls showed a clean sweep by the AAP in the municipal elections. But the Aam Aadmi Party will wait for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) election results to be declared before thanking the people of the national capital, he said. Three exit polls on Monday predicted a clear win for the AAP in the MCD polls, with the BJP emerging a distant second.
"We hope that the results tomorrow will be in line with the exit poll predictions and that the people of Delhi and the country go on to support the AAP in the future as well," Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal's deputy Manish Sisodia claimed the AAP is going to sweep the MCD elections, asserting that the public is once again going to choose Kejriwal's "staunch honesty" and "politics of good governance" over the BJP's lies.
CLICK HERE TO GET LATEST UPDATE ON MCD POLL RESULTS
"They tried to defame him, levelled false allegations against me and tried to defame Satyendar Jain but the people voted for work, not the BJP's lies. The people of Delhi have proved and given this message to the whole country that the Aam Aadmi Party is a staunch honest party and all the allegations levelled against us are just lies," the deputy chief minister said.
Exit polls will be proven wrong, will return to rule MCD: BJP
Ahead of the counting of votes for the MCD polls, the BJP on Tuesday exuded hope that the tide will turn in its favour even as AAP claimed a "landslide" victory as predicted by exit polls.
The exit polls showed that the AAP was going to sweepMCD polls by winning more than 150 of the 250 municipal wards with the BJP emerging a distant second.
A sombre mood prevailed at the Delhi BJP office ahead of the results, where the party leaders hoped that the exit polls will be proved wrong during the counting of votes.
GET FULL COVERAGE OF MCD ELECTION RESULTS
"We have hope that the results will prove the exit polls wrong and the BJP will return back to rule the MCD.
However, we will accept whatever the results are," said Delhi BJP general secretary Dinesh Pratap Singh.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said it would be too early to give in to the survey predictions.
"Wait till tomorrow. I am very hopeful that our results will be far better," he said.
Where Congress stands
The third main contender in the fray, the Congress, too hoped to prove the exit polls wrong on Wednesday.
"The exit poll surveys will be proven wrong very soon. Our party has done the groundwork and according to the internal survey of the party, the Congress is winning 60-70 seats," Delhi Congress president Anil Chaudhary said.
The MCD exit polls have foretold the Congress's victory in less than 10 wards.
Delhi Congress' media department coordinator Anil Bhardwaj asserted that the party will do "much better" than its performance in the previous polls.
"Our vote share will be better than the previous elections. The Party's internal survey is good but doesn't match with the exit poll predictions," he said.
The Congress that ruled Delhi under the chief ministership of Sheila Dikshit for 15 years has seen its political space being occupied by the AAP after 2013. The party failed to win even a single seat in Delhi in two Lok Sabha and Assembly elections each, between 2014 to 2020.
What 2017’s tally says
The BJP trounced both the AAP and the Congress by winning 181 of 272 wards of the three municipal corporations in the 2017 elections. The AAP in its civic polls debut won 48 and the Congress 30 wards. Earlier this year, the Centre merged the three municipal corporations into MCD having a total 250 wards.
What AAP’s victory means
In case it loses the MCD polls, the BJP's era of 15 years rule at the civic body will come to an end.
The defeat will also dent party's expectations to weaken the Kejriwal-led AAP's political dominance in Delhi and further diminish its chances in the 2025 assembly polls.
For AAP, a clear victory in the MCD elections will be yet another example of its sway over Delhi and will also serve as a consolation since the exit polls have also predicted that the party's hopes of victory in the Gujarat assembly polls are likely to fail this time.
A defeat, which seems unlikely in the light of exit poll predictions, will, however, jolt the AAP that registered massive victories in Delhi assembly polls in 2015 and 2020.
Also Read: Delhi MCD Elections 2022: Where and when to watch, check, live streaming results
