Delhi MCD Election Results 2017: BJP Storms to Power in South Corporation

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posted on 7 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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Four hours into counting, the Bharatiya Janata Party was ahead in 70 out of 104 seats in the South. AAP was a distant second with an advantage in 17 seats and Congress was running close with 11 seats.

New Delhi: The BJP won 70 wards in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, storming to power in the 104-ward SDMC.

The Aam Aadmi Party won 16 wards, while the Congress managed 12.

Polling for 270 out of 272 wards across three corporations was held on April 23 which saw a voter turnout of 53.58%. The election to two wards was postponed due to the death of candidates.

As many as 71,39,994 votes were polled on April 23, the South Delhi leading the way with 26,87,685 votes, followed by North Delhi at 26,80,011. East Delhi polled 17,72,298 votes.

Riding on a Modi wave, the BJP has made a clean sweep of the MCD elections and will retain the three municipal corporations for the third term in a row, as predicted in exit polls.

The AAP, which emerged a distant second, has alleged widespread tampering of EVMs in favour of the BJP, calling it “an EVM wave and not Modi wave”. In Congress, which was routed, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ajay Maken took responsibility for the drubbing and offered to resign.

The AAP's humiliating defeat plunged it into a crisis even as its top leadership put up a brave front suggesting it was all expected due to tampering with EVMs, an allegation that has been rubbished by the Election Commission.

Staring at a rout, merely two years into its astounding performance in the assembly polls, the party got into a huddle at Chief Minister Kejriwal's residence to hammer out the next course of action, which may involve agitation over EVMs as already indicated by him.

Senior minister in the Delhi government Gopal Rai said an "EVM wave" is sweeping across the city, giving a new twist to political pundits attributing the BJP's recent string of success to a "Modi wave", or the popularity of the prime minister.

The BJP, meanwhile, has decided not to hold celebrations for its big win in view of the Sukma attack in which 25 CRPF jawans were killed. "But for the Sukma incident, we would be on the streets celebrating this massive victory. We dedicate this win in the feet of Sukma martyrs," Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said.