JOIN USVoting for Delhi MCD poll under way: Will BJP reign over civic body or will Kejriwal's AAP sweep polls?
After the rigorous campaigning and muckraking that took place in the past weeks, Delhi is all set for elections to the the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Apart from corruption, alcohol, pollution and garbage are major issues that have been raked by parties.
Delhiites on Sunday will vote to choose who will rule the capital's corporation amid AAP and BJP locked in a close fight while Congress is attempting to revive its political significance. The counting of votes will be on December 7.
While the BJP and the AAP have fielded 250 candidates each, Congress is contesting in 247 seats. Half of the 250 seats have been reserved for women.
The campaign for the civic polls, which comes after the Centre merged three corporations in April this year, saw intense battle over the functioning of the BJP-ruled corporation. While BJP promises to continue its good work, AAP is picking holes and offering to overhaul the way the civic body functions.
68 model polling stations and a similar number of 'pink booths' have been set up to provide a quality experience to the voters, officials said on Saturday.
Around 1.45 crore voters are expected to exercise their franchise in the elections. The polls will be held for 250 wards of the civic body, in which 1,349 candidates are in the fray.
As the parties wrapped up their campaign on December 2, let's take a look at some of the controversies that erupted before the much awaited civic body elections:
‘Sharab Ratna’ for Excise policy scam
The BJP has alleged that the Delhi Government's policy to grant licenses to liquor traders was influenced in favour of certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party.
"It is amusing that Kejriwal demanded Bharat Ratna for Satyendar Jain and Manish Sisodia. Kejriwal should be given 'Dhokha Ratna Puraskar' and Sisodia 'Sharab Ratna Pursakar' for the existing condition of Delhi," BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan said taking a swipe at the AAP national convener.
However, Sisodia’s name was not mentioned in the first charge sheet filed in the Delhi excise policy case by the CBI. Taking a dig at the BJP, Kejriwal said, "Since 2015, all kinds of agencies have been probing us. But to date, no irregularities have been found in our books, and that's why I can say that we have got a certificate of honesty from the Prime Minister".
The Delhi CM claimed these agencies have been told to "ensure" that Manish Sisodia is jailed no matter what, Kejriwal alleged.
‘PAAP’ Education model of Delhi
The BJP has also alleged a scam in the Delhi education department, saying the city government increased the budget for the construction of classrooms in its existing schools, ignoring the Central Public Works Department’s guidelines. "Corruption is in the DNA of Arvind Kejriwal. It's not AAP sarkar but PAAP ki sarkar (government of sins). He and (Manish) Sisodia are experts in corruption... Where did this money go? Did it go in your pocket, Arvind Kejriwal ji? Did you take note of the report? What action did you take on it?" BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia had said at a press conference.
‘Massage Ratna’ for Satyendar Jain’s Tihar term:
The ongoing drama behind the videos that have surfaced showing AAP minister Satyendar Jain getting preferential treatment in jail could become AAP's Achilles heel as the opposing parties have used them exhaustively to take a swipe at the party before the MCD polls.
BJP’s Anurag Thakur said, "The Aam Aadmi Party is running a separate university where rapists are made physiotherapists." Thakur's jibe was in reference to a video where Jain was seen getting a massage by a person who is reportedly in jail for a rape charge.
Citing leaked videos of Satyendar Jain from Tihar jail that showed him taking a massage in his cell, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "He (Jain) should get the 'Ghotala and Massage Ratna'."
But the AAP chief has made light of these videos, allegedly released by the BJP, and labelled the saffron party as a "video-making company" whose business as a party has been shut by the people of Delhi. In a press conference, Delhi CM Kejriwal ripped into BJP saying that the series of sting videos on AAP leaders it released before civic polls are “awful and boring films” which no one wants to watch.
‘Pollution on, BJP-AAP gone’
Delhi has always been in the news for pollution and whether the party that comes to power solves the issue of pollution or not, contesting political parties have left no stone unturned in using it to attack the ruling party in the national capital.
Delhi Congress President Anil Chaudhary on Friday alleged that AAP "polluted" the entire national capital with "empty rhetoric" while the BJP destroyed the civic body through "corruption".
"When the Congress was in power in Delhi, we created a clean and green city, developed and improved infrastructure, built roads, flyovers and introduced clean fuel in public transport.” The Congress has been quite vocal about the rising pollution in the capital city. During the Himachal and Gujarat campaigns, INC’s Gourav Vallabh said, “Pollution on, Kejriwal gone. Crores have been spent on installation of smog towers in Delhi, but the tall claims made by the AAP and the BJP fell flat.”
The dig is ostensibly a jibe at the Delhi government's 'red light on, car off' campaign.
‘Selfie with garbage’ as parties vow sanitation
Garbage has found its way on top of the pile of all the complaints that the AAP has raised in these elections. "If BJP and Congress corporators are elected, they will spend their tenure fighting. To pace up the development work, people must choose the AAP. Only an AAP corporator will get all the work done," Manish Sisodia had said.
Exerting confidence on the change in the course of Delhi’s garbage situation after AAP gets voted to power in Delhi, Manisi Sisodia said, "People should take selfies with the mountains of garbage because, after December 7, Delhi will get rid of it soon.”
Hitting back at the allegations, Cricketer-turned-BJP MP Gautam Gambhir said, "We have only heard the Delhi Chief Minister blame the Centre for everything, but no one asked him what is his responsibility as the Chief Minister". He should come out and speak, Gambhir added.
"The people of Delhi can see for themselves what the Ghazipur landfill site was three years ago and what has happened to it now. The height has gone down by at least 50 feet, " Gambhir said.
There are 250 civic wards this time, as opposed to the 272 wards in the 2017 MCD polls. Both the AAP and BJP are fielding 250 candidates while the Congress is contesting only 247 seats.
The three municipal corporations were unified earlier this year, leading to postponement of the elections in April. In the 2017 polls, BJP won 64 out of 104 seats in North Delhi, 70 out of 104 in South Delhi and 47 out of 64 in East while AAP had 21, 16 and 12 respectively. Congress had 16, 12 and three seats respectively. Altogether, BJP won 181, AAP 49 and Congress 31.
All eyes are on Delhi to see if the BJP will come to power for their fourth term, will AAP bag the spot this time or will the Congress be a gamechanger.
(With agency inputs)