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Municipal Polls: BJP Does A Hat-Trick In Delhi; TMC Sweeps Kolkata

Municipal Polls: BJP Does A Hat-Trick In Delhi; TMC Sweeps Kolkata
Chief Minister of West Bengal state and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee addresses an election rally in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, March 12, 2014. India will hold national elections from April 7 to May 12, kicking off a vote that many observers see as the most important election in more than 30 years in the world's largest democracy. The upstart AAP had a surprisingly strong showing in local elections late last year. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
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Chief Minister of West Bengal state and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee addresses an election rally in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, March 12, 2014. India will hold national elections from April 7 to May 12, kicking off a vote that many observers see as the most important election in more than 30 years in the world's largest democracy. The upstart AAP had a surprisingly strong showing in local elections late last year. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) in Delhi and the Trinamool Congress' (TMC) in Kolkata continued their winning streaks in the local municipal polls.

After its triumphs in South and East Delhi corporations, BJP clinched the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor of North Delhi as well, thus ending its phenomenal run in the mayoral polls on an all-win note. The TMC on the other hand, bagged 114 out of 144 wards in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls.

In North Delhi Municipal Corporation, BJP candidate Ravinder Gupta defeated Congress' Harsh Sharma by a margin of 41 votes, the highest victory margin for the post, among the three elections. While Gupta polled 67 votes, Sharma could only get 26. Out of the total of 95 votes, two were declared invalid, an NDMC official said.

On April 24, BJP’s veteran leader in North Delhi Municipal Corporation Subhash Arya trounced Congress councillor and former Mayor Farhad Suri by a gap of 19 votes. The winning margin was doubled in the Deputy Mayor polls in the SDMC, as BJP’s winning candidate Kuldeep Solanki bagged 69 votes while Congress’ Indu could get just 31, with the big margin fuelling speculation of “cross-voting”. 71-year-old Arya, currently the chairman of SDMC’s standing committee, polled 60 votes, while Suri, currently the Leader of the Opposition received 41.

The BJP continued its triumph in East Delhi Municipal Corporation yesterday, with its candidate Harshdeep Malhotra defeating Congress rival Rekha Rani by a margin of 17 votes for the Mayor's role.

All three BJP-led municipal corporations have been financially-strained and have been facing corruption charges from the opposition. The electorate for the mayoral polls are the elected members to the respective municipal Houses, nominated members from the MLAs in the Delhi Assembly and the area MPs.

Expressing happiness over its sweeping victory in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) said people want their leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to carry on development work in the state.

"In Kolkata, the TMC won 80 percent of the seats. The message from the people is simple 'Didi...development...carry on'. We are very happy, we have done very well across Bengal," TMC spokesperson Derek O' Brien told ANI. "Left Front and BJP have given a call for a strike on April 30, we Trinamool Congress want to request that there should be no strike, strikes are very bad, we want development, we want people to come out and work. We oppose this strike on 30th," he added.

The TMC bagged 114 out of 144 wards in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls. The TMC was also leading in 67 out of 91 civic bodies in the recently-concluded West Bengal municipal corporation elections.

(With inputs from agencies)

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