Will win 208 of 272 seats, says Congress

DPCC chief said the party would conduct door-to-door campaigning on Saturday

The Congress on Friday claimed that it would win 208 out of the 272 municipal wards that will go to polls on Sunday, as suggested by a survey the party carried out.

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ajay Maken said that based on a survey of about 52,000 voters, as well as feedback from across the city, the party was confident of winning by a majority in each of the three corporations.

Door-to-door campaign

The Congress, which has been the principal opposition in the municipalities after winning 77 wards in 2012, projected confidence on Friday, which was the last day for campaigning. Mr. Maken said that the party would conduct door-to-door campaigning on Saturday under the supervision of 84 observers appointed by the All-India Congress Committee.

“Congress candidates are putting up a tough fight all over the city. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are worried,” Mr. Maken said.

He added that the party had conducted a “positive” campaign, as opposed to the other parties. According to him, while the Congress’ hoardings spoke of the party’s experience in governance, the BJP and the AAP’s publicity materials were used for mud-slinging each other.

‘Vote for governance’

“We have given people solutions, unlike other parties. We brought out six manifestos on different issues. A vote for the Congress is a vote for positive governance,” said Mr. Maken.

As part of its campaign, the Congress had a total of 39 senior national-level leaders, including former Union Ministers Shashi Tharoor, Anand Sharma and Sachin Pilot, address public meetings. While senior leaders from other States, including former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, also campaigned, several high-profile Delhi Congress leaders were missing in action.

Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was conspicuous in her absence, even as in-fighting over the selection of candidates spilled out into the open when former Delhi Minister and Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh joined the BJP this week.