MCD Elections: Exit poll predicts BJP win

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 25

All tensions and speculations over the fate of the three municipal corporations of Delhi will come to rest tomorrow when the counting of votes for the 270 wards will start at 8 in the morning.

Several weeks of intense campaigns by, at least, half-a-dozen political parties paved the way for what it appears like a triangular battle polls for which were held on April 23 which saw a voter turnout of 53.58 per cent, marginally higher than the 2012 elections.

The principal players — the AAP, BJP and the Congress – are claiming to have a majority at a time when exit poll has predicted a sweep by the saffron party.

What is worth noting is that the tomorrow’s results are expected to reshape political equations in the country’s political capital whose implications are going to be far-reaching.

State Election Commissioner SK Srivastava said full arrangements have been made and counting will begin as per the schedule at 35 counting centres.

“All the EVMs have been deposited with due seal and counting will begin tomorrow at 8 am,” he said.

The result will go on to make clear whether the sway of Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, which had stunned all by winning 

67 seats out of 70 in the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls, still holds.

It will be for all to see whether the party would be able to tide through its humiliating defeat in Rajouri Garden bypoll, especially after its below expectation performance in assembly polls in Punjab and Goa.

Incidentally, in May last year, bypolls to 13 wards were held, in which the AAP had finished with five seats, followed by the Congress with four, the BJP at three. One seat went to an independent.

Amid all this, AAP national convener Arvidn Kejriwal had yesterday warned of launching a movement if the MCD exit poll results, which have predicted a BJP sweep, come true pointing out at “EVMs hacking”.

The BJP on its side is confident of retaining its turf it has held for the past 10 years, whereas the Congress is hoping for a revival especially after it emerged second in the Rajouri Garden bypoll.

On the polling day, Kejriwal raised the issue of “EVMs tampering” taking cue from initial sluggish polling though the trend later picked up with as many as 71,39,994 votes polled on April 23.Over 1.32 crore electorate were eligible to vote in the polls.

The State election Commission had admitted to glitches in EVMs, saying 18 electronic voting machines (EVMs) were replaced owing to battery or button-related issues.

Bakhtawarpur ward of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation recorded the highest voter turnout at over 68 per cent, while south Delhi’s Lado Sarai witnessed the least turnout at 39 per cent.

Voting was held in 270 of the total 272 wards of 

the three municipal bodies. The elections to two wards remain postponed due to the death of candidates, both from the Samajwadi Party.