Bypoll to set tone for 2022 battle for three civic bodies
NEW DELHI: Being touted as the precursor to the municipal elections scheduled next year, the bypolls to five corporation wards on February 28 will be an indicator of public mood, leaders of the three main political parties said.
The Aam Aadmi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have announced their candidates for the five wards where elections were necessitated after four councillors were elected to the Delhi assembly last year and one seat fell vacant after the death of the incumbent representative two years ago.
Of the five wards Rohini-c and Shalimar Bagh are under the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and the rest Trilokpuri East, Kalyanpuri and Chauhan Bangar are part of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation. Last date of filing nominations is February 8 while polling will be held on February 8. Results will be declared on March 3.
In 2017 municipal elections, the BJP won 181 of the total 272 wards and it rules all the three municipal corporations. The AAP got 49 seats while the Congress managed 31.
The AAP failed to make any significant inroads in the MCDS in 2017 but won the Delhi assembly polls in 2020 with an overwhelming majority (62 of total 71 seats). The party is now looking to replace BJP in the MCDS.
Senior AAP leader Durgesh Pathak, who is in charge of party’s municipal affairs, said the bypolls are about the mismanagement and flawed policies of the BJP which has landed the corporations in a crisis.
“There is anger among people against the BJP due to their financial mismanagement, flawed policies and corruption. Today, they are not able to pay salaries to civic employees. Corruption by their leaders and sanitation mess in the city will be our two main issues in the bypolls.”
Pathak said in door-to-door campaigning, AAP workers are explaining the issues to people in detail and answering their queries. “We will also tell them about the work our councillors did before they got elected as MLAS and the current situation in the wards,” he said.
Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said, “We will highlight the lack of development in wards which were won by AAP apart from raising the issue of the financial crisis faced by the corporations due to government’s apathy.”
For the Congress, the election will be the first to be held after the new team in Delhi was appointed. A senior party leader said it will be a test for the party about the change in people’s perception. While AAP and BJP are blaming each other for the fund crunch, the Congress is blaming the two parties for the mess. Talking about the party’s ‘Pol Khol’ campaign, Delhi Congress chief Anil Chaudhary said, “This is to expose the corruption in both AAP and BJP which are ruling the Delhi government and corporations respectively. Both parties could not fulfil even one of their election promises.”
Political analyst Sanjay Kumar, director, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), said, “The bypolls will indicate the public mood in the city. But in ward-level elections, it is the candidate that matters more.”