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The Aam Aadmi party will get over 180 seats in the 250-ward Delhi Municipal Corporation, AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj said Wednesday morning as counting of votes began. “We are going to get more than 180 seats. If voters favour us, we can also cross 230 seats. Mayor will be from our party. I think exit polls are pointing towards the victory of AAP,” he said.
Initial trends show a close contest between the AAP and the Bharatiya Janata Party and that is a surprise given the clean sweep for the former party predicted by multiple exit polls.
MCD Elections 2022 Results LIVE
The AAP runs the Delhi government but the BJP holds the city’s municipal corporations, and that has led to a see-saw battle of blame games and allegations over the years as officials work to provide the city’s residents with viable and working infrastructure and facilities.
Voting for the Delhi MCD election was held on December 4, after a prolonged contentious row between all parties over the re-drawing of wards and the subsequent reduction in the number of seats from 272 to 250. The majority mark for victory is now 126.
Meanwhile, the BJP, buoyed by early trends after pollsters handed the party a bruising defeat in Delhi, is now hopeful of an unexpected win. Delhi BJP leader Harish Khurana told news agency ANI: “We worked for the disposal of garbage and it continued even during (the pandemic). That is why we’re confident the next Mayor will be from BJP.”
“Last time too surveys gave only 50 seats to BJP but we won 2/3rd majority.”