Delhi seems to be looking at another saffron sweep as counting continued for civic polls held for 270 of the total 272 municipal wards on 23 April. The total turnout was 53.58%. The Aam Aadmi Party, trailing today, once again raised the issue of faulty Electronic Voting Machines, and made a beeline for party chief Arvind Kejriwal's residence.
10:16 AM:
10:47 AM,PTI reports: The BJP took an early lead in MCD polls, heading ahead in 71 wards while rivals Congress and AAP were left far behind leading in 16 and 14 wards respectively, initial trends indicated today. The vote counting for 270 wards of three municipal corporations began at 35 centres across the city at 8 AM.
Trends were available for 104 seats. The BJP was leading in all the three-North, South and East Delhi Municipal Corporations. The party was leading in 31 wards while Congress and AAP on 6 and 1 wards respectively in North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) in the beginning of counting. The civic body has a total of 104 wards.
In South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), BJP was ahead of rivals in 29 of the 44 wards for which initial trends were available by 8.40 AM. SDMC too has 104 wards.
The Congress was leading in 8 wards while AAP in 6 wards, respectively.
BJP has also maintained lead in counting of votes for East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) wards. The total number of wards in EDMC is 64. BJP was leading in Ghumanhera, Roshanpura,, Hauz Khas, Malkaganj, Kadipur Sriram Colony, Geeta Colony and Krishna Nagar wards. Congress was leading in Hari Nagar, Kondli, Bhajanpur and Subhash Nagar wards.
AAP leading in: Vinod Nagar, Ballimaran, Paharganj, Kishanganj and Mongolpuri wards.
10:53 AM: Posters have already gone up outside BJP HQ dedicating the win to CRPF jawans.
10:56 AM: Former CM Shiela Dikshit says no one asked me to campaign, we should have campaigned aggressively.
11:00 AM: Senior BJP leader RP Singh told ANI, "I am hopeful that party will get more than 200 seats but whatever the outcome is we won't blame EVM for it."
11:03 AM: BJP has won three wards for which results were announced. The party candidates won Janakpuri West and Janakpuri South, in South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) by defeating AAP candidates. Narender Chawla won from Janakpuri West by a margin of 1347 votes, while Veena Sharma defeated her AAP rival by 5362 votes.
The BJP also won Rajender Nagar ward in North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC).
11:12 AM: PTI reports: The BJP is leading over rivals Congress and AAP in 145 wards.
11:14 AM: "You manipulated people's support", former AAP member Mayank Gandhi addresses Arvind Kejriwal.
11:50 AM:
Delhi Congress Chief Ajay Maken decided to take moral responsibility for his party's loss and announced his resignation. "I will submit my resignation to the Congress President and Vice-President shortly," Maken said.
Maken said he'll work as just a party worker for a year and not take up any post. The Congress came in third in the polls that BJP swept. More heads to roll?
12:30 PM: "This is a vote in favour of Modiji's three years in power," Amit Shah said in Kolkata. "The people of Delhi have showed that negative kind of politics will not win and only positive politics will win."
12:40 PM: Alka Lamba Offers To Resign
1:11 PM: Manoj Tiwari Dedicates Delhi Win To CRPF Jawans Killed In Sukma Ambush
Twenty-six jawans lost their lives in an ambush by Maoists in the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.
1:36 PM: There Was A Difference Between Words And Deeds, Says Anna Hazare On AAP's MCD Route
Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal, who were together in the India Against Corruption movement, haven;t seen eye to eye after Kejriwal left to form his political party AAP.
While Kejriwal had requested Hazare to join AAP, he never accepted the offer and has always been critical of the party.
And with the MCD rout, the veteran activist said:
2:04 PM: Grateful To People Of Delhi For Faith In BJP, Says PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed gratitude for the people of Delhi on Wednesday after BJP's big win in the MCD polls. He also lauded his party for their hard work.