New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday won the prestigious battle for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), ending the 15 year-rule of the BJP.
After winning 134 wards AAP registers its win over the civic elections while BJP is left with 104 seats as the counting concludes.
A total of 126 seats is needed for a majority in the House of 250.
Congress won 9 wards while three independent candidates have also managed to win 3 wards.
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Celebrations at the AAP camp
State CM and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal along with Dy CM Manish Sisodia and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann addressed the party workers as the party comfortably crosses the majority mark to win the MCD elections.
"We thank the people of Delhi for giving the mandate to AAP. This is not just a win but a big responsibility to make Delhi cleaner and better," said Delhi Deputy CM & AAP leader Manish Sisodia.
Kejriwal congratulates Delhi for MCD win
Delhi CM and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal addressed the party workers post the MCD win. While expressing his gratitude to the public he said,"I congratulate the people of Delhi for this win and thank them for bringing change."
"I want the cooperation of the BJP & Congress to work for Delhi now. I appeal to the Centre & ask for PM's blessings to make Delhi better. We have to make MCD corruption-free. Today, the people of Delhi have given a message to the entire nation," he added.
Counting for the 250 wards of the civic agency began at 8 a.m. on Wednesday amid tight security arrangements at 42 centres. There are a total of 1,349 candidates in the fray.
This was the first election after the MCD was reunified earlier this year. The polls had witnessed a voter turnout of only 50.48 per cent, just over 73 lakh people from the total of 1.45 crore eligible voters.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held a meeting with his deputy Manish Sisodia and other senior AAP leaders, at his residence.
Also in attendance were senior party leader Raghav Chaddha, as well as Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
Addressing the media at the party headquarters, spokesperson Sanjeev Jha said that the Mayor will be from AAP.
"The BJP has covered Delhi in garbage, it'll be cleaned and Arvind Kejriwal's government will be formed in MCD. People of Delhi had decided to bring AAP in MCD so that Delhi becomes clean and beautiful," he said.
The counting of votes polled in the December 4 MCD elections commenced at 8 am amid tight security at the 42 counting centres across Delhi.
As per the latest official trend on the Election Commission's website:
Official trends at 1:55 pm show
AAP win 126 seats
BJP wins 97 seats
Congress wins 7, leading on 3
Independent wins 3, leading on 3
Official trends at 12:45 pm show
AAP win 106 seats, leading on 26 seats
BJP wins 84 seats, leading on 20
Congress wins 5, leading on 5
Independent wins 1, leading on 3
AAP workers show immense enthusiasm as party closes toward the halfway mark. Celebration pictures surface all over the internet.
Official trends at 12:20 pm show
AAP win 89 seats, leading on 47 seats
BJP wins 69 seats, leading on 32
Congress wins 4, leading on 5
Independent wins 1, leading on 2
Amid the results drama, AAP workers dance and celebrate at the party office in Delhi as the party wins 78 seats and leads on 56 others as per the official trends. Counting is underway.
Official trends at 11:50 am show
AAP win 75 seats, leading on 60 seats
BJP wins 55 seats, leading on 48
Congress wins 4, leading on 5
Independent wins 1, leading on 2
Official trends at 10:55 am show
AAP leading on 116 seats
BJP leading on 91
Congress leading on 9
Independent 3, BSP on 1
Official wins at 10:45 am
BJP has won 10 seats
AAP has won 6 seats
Sultana Abad of the AAP won the Jama Masjid ward, while the party's Sarika Chaudhary defeated Congress' Farhad Suri by a margin of 244 votes in the Daryaganj seat.
The BJP's Alka Raghav emerged victorious in Laxmi Nagar by a margin of 3,819 votes, while the party's Rohini D candidate Smita also registered a win.
The AAP's Ankush Narang has won from the Ranjeet Nagar seat.
Official trends at 10:45 am show
AAP leading on 121 seats
BJP leading on 96
Congress leading on 12
Independent 4, BSP and NCP on 1 each
Official trends at 10:20 am show
AAP leading on 112 seats
BJP leading on 112
Congress leading on 12
Independent 4, BSP and NCP on 1 each
Official trends at 9:50 am show
AAP leading on 109 seats
BJP leading on 105
Congress leading on 9
Official trends at 9:40 am show
BJP leading on 110 seats
AAP leading on 100
Congress leading on 9
Independent 2 & NCP on 1
Official trends at 9:20 am show
BJP leading on 106 seats
AAP leading on 59
Congress leading on 7
Independent 2 & NCP on 1
Earlier, the first official trends showed AAP leading on 4 seats and BJP on 3 seats.
On Wednesday at 42 counting centres with 68 observers to oversee the counting in the national capital, the state electoral office said.
The state electoral office has deployed engineers to look into technical issues of electronic voting machine (EVM) malfunctioning.
There are total 1,349 candidates in fray with exit polls predicting a big victory for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The BJP has been in power for past 15 years in the MCD and it ran a high-pitched campaign as senior party leaders campaigned in the civic body elections.
On the eve of the announcement of election results for the MCD, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday said that he predicted a landslide victory for the AAP.
"This mandate will be a signal from Delhi to the whole country that AAP is a fiercely-honest party. The BJP levelled fake allegations against me, ran a witch-hunt against Satyendar Jain. But the people of Delhi have proven with their mandate that there was no scam in Delhi and all the allegations levelled by the BJP were false, motivated by conspiracy and dirty politics," Sisodia added.
He said that the people of Delhi will reject BJP's lies, conspiracy and dishonesty, and choose Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's honesty and work-based politics.
