Ticker: MCD ward polls
NEW DELHI, Sept 4: The BJP and AAP are locked in a neck-to-neck fight with both the parties bagging five zones each in the keenly contested zonal ward committee polls of the MCD that underwent on Wednesday.
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The councillors are voting to elect a chairman and deputy chairman for nine of the 12 zonal-level ward committees, and one member each for the standing committee, MCD’s highest decision-making body.
Voting in three zones — Karol Bagh, City SP, and Keshav Puram — was not held as neither the BJP nor the AAP fielded their candidates.
The Civil Lines Zone saw a keen contest between the AAP and BJP as the saffron party won all three posts by a margin of one vote each.
Anil Kumar Tyagi defeated Ajeet Singh Yadav by polling 10 votes, while Rekha triumphed over her rival Gagan Chaudhary in a similar fashion.
Former North Delhi mayor and BJP leader of opposition in MCD Raja Iqbal Singh defeated Promila Gupta of AAP by polling in 10 votes as against nine polled by her.
In the Karol Bagh Zone, AAP councillor Rakesh Joshi was elected unopposed as chairman of the ward committee, while Jyoti Gautam and Ankush Narang bagged the posts of deputy chairman and member of the standing committee since the BJP did not field any candidate.
AAP candidates Mohd Sadiq, Kiran Bala and Punardeep Singh Sawhney were elected unopposed as chairman, deputy chairman of the ward committee, and member of the standing committee from City SP Zone in the absence of any candidates from the BJP.
BJP candidates were elected unopposed from the Keshav Puram Zone.
Rohini and West Zones were among the four won by the AAP.
In South Zone, cross voting took place leading to a tie between the BJP and AAP. Through lottery, AAP won the zonal chairman post. The party’s candidates also won the posts of chairman and standing committee member.
In Rohini, AAP’s Suman Anil Rana won the president’s post by defeating her BJP rival. Dharam Rakshak and Daulat bagged the posts of deputy chairman and standing committee member after the BJP candidates withdrew nominations for the two posts.
In the West Zone, the BJP candidates withdrew their nominations for the three posts.
The Shahdara North zone saw BJP candidates emerging victorious after defeating their Congress rivals. The voting for the ward committee polls in the zone went on for the longest time.
The Congress, which has nine councillors, had fielded candidates from the Shahdara North zone. The AAP candidates withdrew their nomination for the post of chairman and deputy chairman, while Congress candidate withdrew her nomination from the standing committee member.
The elections were carried out smoothly under a heavy security deployment.
Talking about the results, Aaley Mohammad Iqbal, deputy mayor of MCD, told PTI Videos, “There is no doubt that we will win most of the zones. I am confident that the Aam Aadmi Party will win the Standing Committee elections.”
BJP candidate Sushil Jonty, who won the deputy chairman post from Keshav Puram, said, “There was no opposition candidate. This is a crucial election as it determines the role of the MCD. Development in Delhi had stalled because the mayor and Aam Aadmi Party were not sharing responsibilities. These elections, which had been delayed for a long time, will now accelerate Delhi’s progress.”
BJP councillors won from Najafgarh and Shahdara South zones. Former East Delhi mayor Neema Bhagat was elected as a standing committee member from Shahdara South Zone.
The voting is being done in two clusters of all MCD zones, held simultaneously with councillors of five zones casting their votes together, while the remaining zones will go to polls separately.
The long pending elections are being held for the first time since the unification of the trifurcated MCD in 2022. Due to a political deadlock between the ruling AAP and the opposition BJP, the polls could not take place and the matter became sub judice.
The elections are being held through secret ballot in accordance with the Delhi Municipal Corporation Regulations, 1958.
Police had beefed up security arrangements in and around the Civic Centre located in central Delhi ahead of the polls.
A company of paramilitary personnel along with local police has been deployed at the spot. (PTI)
