BJP wins Delhi civic polls, AAP cries foul
SWEEP Delhi CM Kejriwal shaken, Cong chief Maken offers to quit
The BJP on Wednesday retained Delhi’s three civic bodies for the third time in a row, dealing a blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which blamed Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for its poor show in the municipal elections.
According to the Delhi election office, the BJP had won 181 wards, AAP 48, Congress 30 wards so far. The BSP won two wards in the east municipal corporation, the INLD bagged one seat and one ward went to an Independent candidate.
In the north , the BJP won 62 wards, AAP 18 and Congress 13. In the south MCD, the BJP won 66, AAP 16 and 11 went to the Congress. In the east Delhi municipal body, 46 went to BJP, 10 to AAP and three to the Congress.
The results are a huge setback to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is struggling to retain the appeal of the five-yearold party that came to power in Delhi by a sweeping majority in the 2015 Assembly elections.
Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare questioned Kejriwal’s leadership, saying the party have lost credibility among people in a short span of time.
The BJP was jubilant. As the results became clear, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tweeted: “Grateful to the people of Delhi for the faith in BJP. I laud the hardwork of (Delhi BJP) team... which made the resounding MCD win possible.”
Party chief Amit Shah said: “MCD election results have
Grateful to the people of Delhi for the faith in BJP. I laud the hardwork of (Delhi BJP) team... which made the resounding MCD win possible
pushed Modi’s victory chariot forward... The results show negative politics won’t work... I congratulate Manoj Tiwari and all our party workers,” he said.
Talking to Hindustan Times, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari blamed the AAP government for not letting the municipal corporations function properly and promised to make Delhi free of garbage in the next three months.
Tiwari credited the victory to the AAP’s ‘failures’ and Modi’s policies. “It has been proved that only ‘Modi can do’ (reference to BJP’s campaign, tumse na ho payega). The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is incapable (of developing Delhi). It is clear that the people of Delhi is fed up with the negativity being spread by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. They have reposed trust in the policies of PM Narendra Modi,” Tiwari said.
Tiwari said the party decided to suspend all celebrations in wake of the Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma .
“Winning and losing is a part of democracy, one must accept mandate of the people with maturity,” says BJP leader and Union minister Nitin Gadkari.
Accepting defeat, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken decided to resign from his post.
CONTINUED ON P 5
The last day of the special session of the state assembly called to ratify the GST bill witnessed unruly scenes, with Speaker Kailash Meghwal suspending 14 MLAs of the Opposition for a year for gross indiscipline.
The suspension of 12 Congress members was later reduced to a day after a rapprochement between the parties.The fate of two MLAs — Hanuman Beniwal (independent) and Manoj Nyangli (BSP) — will be decided when they apologise, the speaker said. HTC
››RAJ OKAYS GST BILL P3
The family of Pehlu Khan, the Muslim man killed by vigilantes this month in Alwar, has been acquitted of the charge of cow smuggling by two local courts, HT investigations have revealed, contrary to claims by the Rajasthan home minister that they were cow smugglers.
Gulab Chand Kataria had on Monday said in the state assembly that Khan belonged to a family of cow smugglers, citing two old cases pending against his son.
But Irshad, Khan’s son, has been acquitted in both the cases. The first case was registered in Nuh while the second was filed in Rohtak of Haryana in 2011. Both the cases were filed by cow vigilante groups.
Khan, waylaid by a mob on April 1 while transporting cows and beaten up mercilessly, had no cases against him.
The police officers in Nuh and Rohtak told Hindustan Times that the cases against Irshad were more of the cruelty to animal and less of transporting cows for slaughter. ››FULL REPORT P2