BJP, Congress offices wear deserted look as parties stare at loss

Party offices of the BJP, which controlled the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for 15 long years, and the Congress wore a deserted look on Wednesday as the Aam Aadmi Party rose to victory in the MCD elections.

Despite its defeat to the AAP in a close contest, the BJP managed to raise its vote share by 3 per cent as compared to 2017 civic body elections in the national capital.

Meanwhile, Congress was reduced to nine municipal wards from 31 won by the party in 2017 civic body polls. As many as 188 candidates from Congress forfeited security deposit.

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

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections held on Sunday with a comfortable majority, bagging 134 of the 250 wards.

The vote share of the ruling party in Delhi also soared from 21.09 per cent in 2017 municipal polls to 42.05 per cent, as per figures of the State Election Commission.

The BJP that had won 181 of the 272 wards in 2017 managed to win only 104 wards this time surrendering its 15-year-rule at the civic body to the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

The saffron party obtained 39.09 per cent of the total votes polled in the elections for 250 wards. In 2017 municipal polls, the party had secured 36.08 per cent votes.

An analysis of vote share of different contestants showed that the Congress which had obtained 21.09 per cent votes in 2017 could manage to get only 11.68 per cent votes this time.

Also, the vote share of Independent candidates slid to 3.46 per cent as compared to 8.8 per cent in 2017 civic body polls, suggesting that the votes of Congress and Independents shifted to the AAP and BJP.

Here is what the party offices of the BJP and the Congress looked like on the vote-counting day of the MCD elections: