Delhi Municipal Corporation bypolls: AAP wins five seats, Congress four

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party, which rules Delhi’s three municipal corporations, performed poorly in municipal bypolls as results declared on Tuesday show both the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party registered gains.

Of the 13 seats which went to polls midterm — since all sitting councillors vacated seats to contest assembly polls last year — AAP won five, Congress four, the BJP three and one was won by an Independent who subsequently joined Congress.

With full-fledged MCD polls slated for 2017, all parties worded their reactions cautiously. While both the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress claimed success, the BJP insisted it remains the ‘most popular party’.

In a subsequent press conference, AAP’s Delhi unit convener Dilip Pandey conceded that the party ‘could not reach the overwhelming expectations’ it had of the results. Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken claimed big victory for Congress and a “big setback for AAP”.

BJP’s leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta conceded the poor performance. “People have given only three seats to the party. The party will introspect to find its weaknesses and to remove them. The BJP got 34%votes making it the most popular party in Delhi,” he said.