NEW DELHI : The BJP is leading over rivals Congress and AAP in 145 wards in MCD polls, with trends for 227 seats hinting at a landslide victory for the party.
The AAP managed to gain some ground with trends at 10 AM showing that it was leading in 43 wards while Congress trailed on the third spot with lead in 27 wards, in the municipal elections dubbed by Opposition as a referendum on the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi.
BJP also managed to win 3 seats, Janakpuri West, Rajender Nagar and Janakpuri South, for which results were announced.
Counting of votes began at 8 AM today with BJP gaining early leads in all the three municipal corporations-NDMC, SDMC and EDMC.
As per available trends, BJP was leading in 38 East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) wards while AAP in 6 and Congress in 5 wards respectively. Trends were available for 51 out of total 64 wards in the civic body.
In South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), BJP was leading in 38 wards while AAP and Congress were ahead in 19 and 15 wards respectively, in the trends available for 86 wards.
BJP was heading towards a massive victory in North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) indicated trends for 90 wards. The party was leading on 59 seats while AAP was leading in 18 and Congress in 7 wards.
Voting for 270 of the total 272 municipal wards was held on April 23. Two wards where candidates died, voting was cancelled.
The AAP leaders including Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia were huddled at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence as the trends showed a poor show by the party.
The prospects of a “massive” defeat loomed large over AAP, close on the heels of the bypolls for Rajouri Garden Assembly seat where BJP-Akali Dal candidate won while party candidate lost his security deposit.
Trends showed that AAP was trailing far behind BJP which has been accused by the Kejriwal led party of “corruption and mismanagement” during its 10 year rule.
Congress whose Delhi unit president Ajay Maken had said that the MCD polls will be a referendum on Kejriwal government, appeared to be heading for third place in the contest that it had claimed to won with victory in over 200 wards. (AGENCIES)
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