Though the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won the Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls (MCD elections), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept through the home turfs of two of the top AAP leaders In Mandawali Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain.
Both Sisodia and Jain are accused of corruption and are under investigation by Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The corruption allegations on AAP leaders had been a major issue for the BJP in the run-up to the MCD elections — particularly when AAP emerged on an anti-corruption plank.
In Sisodia's Patparganj assembly seat, the BJP won three of the four MCD wards.
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In Jain's Shakur Basti assembly seat, the BJP won all three MCD wards.
Corruption cases against AAP
The BJP had mounted unrelenting attacks on Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and jailed minister Satyandar Jain.
While Sisodia is alleged to be involved in the Delhi Excise Policy scam, Jain is also accused of corruption. Moreover, he is also accused of gaining special treatment in jail and a number of videos have surfaced in which he is seen getting massages from fellow prisoners and interacting with them freely.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena had ordered a probe into the Delhi government's now-scrapped excise policy that had led to a CBI raid on locations associated with Sisodia. The BJP said the AAP had used the excise policy to "receive kickbacks" and promised that Sisodia, who was "instrumental" in framing it, would "face the music and the law".
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BJP victory on AAP turf
In Sisodia's assembly constituency Patparganj, the BJP has won three of four wards
The BJP's Renu Chaudhary bagged the Patparganj ward by 403 votes against the AAP candidate, Ravinder Singh Negi won from Vinod Nagar ward by a margin of 2,311 against the AAP's Kuldeep Bhandari, and Shashi Chandna defeated the AAP's Reena Tomar by 186 votes in Mandawali. The AAP only managed victory in one seat of Mayur Vihar Phase II where its candidate Devender Kumar won.
In Jain's Shakur Basti constituency, the BJP won all the MCD wards.
The BJP's Sikha Bhardwaj bagged the Saraswati Vihar ward by 3,150 votes against the AAP's Urmila Gupta, Vinneet Vohra beat AAP nominee Shalu Duggal by 2,044 votes in Paschim Vihar, and Jyoti Aggarwal won from Rani Bagh against Mithlesh Pathak by 1,387 votes.
Jain, who is in jail in an Enforcement Directorate case, bore the brunt of the BJP's attack, especially after purported videos of him getting a massage and receiving visitors in his cell came to light. The BJP had accused the Delhi minister of receiving special treatment in jail and demanded his dismissal by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Overall, the AAP won the MCD elections by winning 134 of the total 250 MCD wards. The BJP won 104 wards and ranked second. Though the AAP won, the margin is much narrower than exit polls had predicted.
(With PTI inputs)
