AAP gets the baton to run MCD

The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party won the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections to end Bharatiya Janata Party’s 15-year rule in the civic body. This is the first time that AAP will get to rule the state and the civic body together.

Kejriwal, the Delhi chief minister reached AAP headquarters and addressed the crowd, “First of all, I want to congratulate the people of Delhi for this big win. I am grateful to the people for bringing about this revolution. Now we have to work together. I want cooperation from BJP and Congress as well to work together for the betterment of the people of Delhi. From this stage, I seek blessings from PM Modi to work for the people of Delhi. We can work together to clean Delhi and its landfills.”

Also read: Lights, camera, celebration: AAP glows after victory in MCD polls

However, since they have won by a wafer-thin majority — having won just eight seats more than the 126 needed – AAP would be walking a tightrope. As per sources, the anti-defection law doesn’t apply to ward councillors and their shifting loyalties isn’t unheard of.

Here is a look at some of the highlights from the day of the results:

Pioneer

Bobby Kinnar became the first-ever transgender candidate to win in MCD elections. The Aam Aadmi Party candidate emerged victorious from the Sultanpuri 43A ward by 6,714 votes. She polled 14,821 votes against the nearest rival Varuna Dhaka of the Indian National Congress, who got 8,107 votes.

Interestingly, it was during Varuna’s rally, as The Patriot reported last week, that Bobby was taunted by being called a dhol peetne wali as well as an illiterate by some miscreants. But the 38-year-old had garnered enough goodwill through her social service to win the election by a massive margin.

Youngest loses

Pooja Yadav, 21, the youngest candidate in these elections lost and could not even finish as runner-up. Anita Baisoya of AAP won with 6,988 votes while Preeti Bidhuri of BJP won 6,052 votes to end as runner-up.

Mixed results for ex-Mayors

BJP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat and Neema Bhagat, both former mayors won from Dwarka-B and Geeta colony respectively. However, former North MCD mayor Sardar Avtar Singh and erstwhile SDMC mayor Sunita Kangra could not take BJP to victory at the Civil Lines and Madipur wards which were won by AAP candidates Vikas Tank and Sahil Gangwal respectively.

Blow for AAP

But in a setback to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won three wards under Patparganj in the East Delhi constituency which is held by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. There are four wards under Patparganj constituency – Mayur Vihar Phase-II, Patpar Ganj, Vinod Nagar, and Mandawali. BJP won all wards in the constituency except the Mayur Vihar phase-II seat.

Ex-India captain wins

Former India kabaddi team captain and Asian Games gold medal winner Dinesh Bhardwaj of AAP won the Bankner Ward No. 2 by 378 votes against nearest rival Vinod Bhardwaj of Bharatiya Janata Party. He managed to get 10,765 out of 25,136 votes that were polled. The constituency had 43,815 voters. Runner-up Vinod got 10,387.

Rich gets poor returns

BJP’s Ram Dev Sharma, the richest candidate in the fray, lost to AAP candidate Mohammed Sadiq from the Ballimaran ward. As per the election affidavit submitted by Sharma, his total assets were worth Rs 66 crore. Sharma polled 4,147 votes which was 11,626 less than Sadiq’s 15,773.