MCD bypolls: Cong wins Sarai Pipal, AAP takes Maujpur wards

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 23

The Congress won the Sarai Pipal Thala ward and Maujpur ward fell in the kitty of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the bypolls, results for which were announced today.

Mukesh Goel of Congress bagged the Sarai Pipal Thala ward of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and AAP’s Reshma emerged victorious in Maujpur ward of East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).

Goel, who polled 10,946 votes, defeated BJP's Mangat Ram Sharma by a margin of 2,743 votes. He was the Leader of Opposition in the NDMC House. Reshma of the AAP beat Congress' Rekha Sharma by a margin of 699 votes.

Polling in these two wards was postponed due to the death of candidates, both from the Samajwadi Party there. While Maujpur went to polls on May 14, by-election for the Sarai Pipal ward was held on May 21.

After the death of SP candidate Dinesh Singh, his son Himanshu was in the fray in Sarai Pipal ward which was held by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The other main contenders in the election were Mohammad Sarif (BSP) and Rajeev Bansal (AAP).

In the Maujpur ward, the polling was postponed due to the death of SP choice Naseema. Later, her daughter Shaheen contested the election. The ward is currently held by BJP.

With today's results, the corporation-wise tally of the Congress' tally stands at 12 under South MCD, 15 under North MCD and 3 are now with it of the East MCD. AAP’s scorecard in terms of seats is 16, 21 and 11 respectively while BJP has it at 70, 64 and 47 respectively.

Delhi has a total of 272 wards spread across North, South and East Delhi municipal corporations.

Voting for the rest 270 wards of the three municipal corporations was held on April 23 and the results were announced on April 26.

Cong gains vote bank again, claims PC Chacko

Hailing the victory of Mukesh Goel from ward number16-N, Sarai Pipal Thala, in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation by-election, in charge of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, PC Chacko said it was a great achievement of the party as Goel got 10,946 votes, 44.10 per cent of the total votes.

Chacko said BJP candidate Mangat Ram Sharma, who was polled 8,203 votes, while the Aam Aadmi Party candidate Rajeev Kumar Bansal, who got just 2,903 and lost his security deposit.

He said the total votes polled at the ward were 24,820, and considering the low percentage of voting, Mukesh Goel’s victory by a big margin was a great achievement for the Congress party.

Chacko said the Congress party has made tremendous strides in Delhi in the past two years under the leadership of DPCC president Ajay Maken as in the last Delhi Assembly elections in 2015, the Congress vote share was a mere 9.5 per cent, which has now gone up to 39 per cent in the second phase of the MCD polls.