BJP won the Municipal polls in Delhi crossing simple majority figure of 137 in the 272-member body giving a severe blow to Congress.
Updated at 15.25 PM
NEW DELHI: BJP on Saturday won the Municipal elections in Delhi crossing simple majority figure of 137 in the 272-member civic body and dealing a severe blow to the ruling Congress in the capital.
With results of 55 seats pending, the saffron party is 17 short of a simple majority in a House of 272 while Congress is lagging way behind, winning only 59.
Significantly, the Mayawati-led BSP, which has no MLAs in the Delhi Assembly, sprang a surprise by opening its account winning an impressive 17 seats.
Smaller parties like NCP (2), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (2), Uma Bharti's Bharatiya Jansakthi Party-INLD combine (2) and independents (13) have also made their presence felt.
The prominent faces who won include Mayor Farhad Suri, Standing Committee Chairman J K Sharma, former Mayor Satbir Singh (Cong), Opposition leader Subhash Arya of BJP, BJP Standing Committee member Vijender Gupta and former Deputy Mayor Arti Mehra, also of the BJP.
Last time, the Congress had won 108 seats in the 134- member House. The number of seats were doubled as a result of the recently-held delimitation exercise.
As the results poured in, a blame game began in the Congress with Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit holding the DPCC, headed by her detractor Rambabu Sharma, responsible for the debacle while he attributed it to a host of issues implying the failure of her government.
An upbeat BJP Delhi unit chief Harsh Vardhan described the election victory as a referendum on Dikshit government's performance and asked for her resignation.
Delhi BJP erupts in celebration; all quiet in DPCC office
The sound of firecrackers and drumbeats could be heard from nearly half-a-kilometre away as the Delhi BJP office erupted in colourful celebrations as the party regained control of MCD House after a gap of five years.
In contrast, it was all quiet in the Congress office with only mediapersons giving company to the few party leaders and workers.
The atmosphere in the Delhi BJP office was that of rapturous celebration as a large number of party workers danced to 'bhangra' beats from the 'dhol' and lit an array of crackers at regular intervals.
Dikshit, Rambabu did not work in tandem: AICC
Congress on Saturday said the outcome of the Delhi civic polls could have been "somewhat better" if Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her bete noire DPCC chief Rambabu Sharma had worked together.
"The results could have been somewhat better if Dikshit and Sharma would have worked in tandem," AICC General Secretary Ashok Gehlot, party in-charge of Delhi said.
The comment came in reply to a question whether the differences in the local unit of the party had affected its performance in the MCD elections.
He made a similar remark when asked whether a more active involvement by Dikshit in the campaigning would have helped. Dikshit had entered the campaigning at the fag-end.
Some months back, Gehlot had reminded the local leadership to realise that they would "sink or swim together".
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