The BJP will retain power, by a sweeping margin, in all three municipal bodies in Delhi for which elections were held on Sunday.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had put in an extraordinary performance in the 2015 Assembly elections in the city, winning 67 out of 70 Assembly seats, is second with the Congress a distant third.
While AAP leaders were seen blaming the BJP for tampering the electronic voting machines (EVMs), Congress's Delhi chief Ajay Maken has offered to resign from his position, after his party's performance.
"We thank the people of Delhi for believing in our dream for a smart, garbage-free city. This also shows that the people have rejected the politics of excuses," BJP president, Amit Shah, said after the win.
AAP leaders, however, said that BJP has taken five years to master the craft of rigging EVMs, and these results were a display of their research.
"We know people will mock us for bringing up this issue, but for the upkeep of democracy this issue needs to be highlighted," Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told the media outside the Chief Minister's residence at Civil Lines.
AAP legislator from Delhi Alka Lamba has also offered to resign from all party posts after her party failed to win a single ward in her Chandni Chowk constituency.
At the time of writing, BJP has won 84 seats, while AAP and Congress are following with 21 and 15 wins respectively. The election was conducted in 272 wards in Delhi.
Delhi BJP leader and Union Minister Harsh Vardhan tweeted, “BJP cadres wont be celebrating this mandate by people of Delhi in view of the ghastly #Sukma attacks. We're pleased with #MCDresults , thanks”
The BJP had replaced all sitting Councilors for the three Municipal Corporations and ran a poster with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Delhi party president Manoj Tewari featuring in it.
The Congress, on its part, tried very hard to resurrect itself, hoping to get back the votes it had lost to AAP in the last Assembly elections. However, Mr. Maken’s offer to resign would reveal that the party is disappointed with the results and the expected resurrection did not happen.
For AAP, which has been crying foul over EVM tampering, the comprehensive defeat in the MCD elections comes after a setback in the Punjab Assembly elections, which the party had hoped to win.
In a recent interview to The Hindu, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said there was no negativity about AAP and the defeat in the Rajouri Garden Assembly seat was due to local factors.
“There is no negativity about AAP in Delhi. On the contrary, the BJP has sucked the MCD dry in the last 10 years…there is negativity for the BJP; they are the ones facing anti-incumbency after holding power in MCD for the last 10 years,” Mr. Kejriwal had said.
