In yet another shot in the arm for the BJP, the saffron party swept today the elections to all three civic bodies in Delhi with a thumping two-third majority. Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP and an already relegated Congress are faced humiliating defeats.
The MCD election result has come a huge setback to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after his party’s humiliating Rajouri Garden by-poll defeat. AAP has already suffered a crushing defeat in Punjab and a complete whitewash in Goa Assembly polls earlier.
In 2012 the MCD elections, when Delhi’s local body was trifurcated, the BJP won 142 seats and the Congress won 77 seats. AAP was yet be born then. The 2017 MCD result shows that the BJP has strengthened its position further with the party doing better in each of the civic wards.
While the BJP maintains its winning streak with this big victory, the party’s move to field new candidates is seen as a clincher. At the same time, the Delhi civic election results is seen as a referendum against Arvind Kejriwal’s party, which won 67 of the 70 Assembly constituencies in 2015 Delhi assembly polls and the BJP won just three seats and the Congress came a cropper. In this MCD elections, the BJP has managed to turn around riding on the Modi wave, forcing the AAP to bite the dust. Needless to mention that AAP supremo and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s so-called popularity is on a slide.
Reacting to the party’s massive victory in the MCD polls, BJP president Amit Shah said, “I thank the voters of Delhi for the BJP’s win.” Crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governance for the victory, Shah said, “The people of Delhi have showed that negative kind of politics will not win and only positive politics will win.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has thanked the people of Delhi for reposing faith in the BJP. PM Modi tweeted:
Grateful to the people of Delhi for the faith in BJP. I laud the hardwork of team @BJP4Delhi which made the resounding MCD win possible.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 26, 2017
At a time Kejriwal has been reduced to a butt of jokes on social media following the defeat, a defiant AAP, however, was quick to hide behind its imaginary “EVM wave” blabber for the poor show.
“EVM tampering is the bitter truth of the country’s democracy. One can crack jokes on us initially, but fearing being made fun of, we cannot refrain from speaking the truth,” said Manish Sisodia, senior AAP leader and Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi.
It could be noted that in the run up to the MCD election results, the AAP supremo has threatened of ‘agitation’ if MCD results are not as per his wishes.
Meanwhile, Delhi Pradesh Congress President Ajay Maken has offered to resign owing to party’s dismal show in the MCD polls.
