BJP eyes mayoral election, vows to keep exposing AAP's 'corruption' in MCD

DEEPIKA RATHOUR

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party has been levelling accusations against the Aam Aadmi Party, be it any scam, corruption or failure when it was the governing party in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and in the opposition in the Delhi government. Now, even after losing the MCD polls, the BJP plans to continue to expose the AAP and its alleged corruption as the opposition in the civic body.

The AAP on Wednesday dislodged the BJP from power in the MCD, giving it control over key civic sectors in the city such as waste management, primary education and collection of property tax.

Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta opened up about the defeat in the MCD polls and said the "BJP will serve the people of Delhi by becoming a strong opposition and will expose the corruption of the Aam Aadmi Party in the corporation just like the huge corruption done by the AAP in the Delhi government".

Expressing gratitude to Delhiites he said, "BJP expresses gratitude to all the voters of Delhi including BJP workers for 40 per cent voter turnout received by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the municipal elections. At the same time, the BJP promises that in the corporation too, it will strongly raise the questions and problems related to the people of Delhi and will try its best to fulfil them." Gupta also thanked the Delhi Police and the Election Commission.

Gupta said the "people of Delhi have given us an almost 40% vote share along with 104 wards and responsibility as a strong opposition. We will constructively keep raising the issues of the general public".

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal won and the BJP lost in the MCD polls. But the significant point is that Kejriwal's top ministers lost most of the wards in their constituencies.

The BJP is still keeping its hopes high of having a mayor from their party as the mayor is elected by the councillors.

With the Anti-Defection Act not applicable in municipal polls, the chances of last minute changes in which party is able to stake claim to the seat of the mayor are high.

A mayor is usually nominated by the party which has the highest number of councillors. Only if the opposition puts up a candidate are elections mandated. Since the AAP's victory has not been a sweep, the chances of elected councillors switching parties becomes high.

Apart from the elected councillors, 10 Delhi MPs (of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha) and 14 MLAs, to be selected by the Assembly Speaker, are eligible to vote in the mayoral election.

The BJP's Amit Malviya referred to the Chandigarh municipal body. Though the AAP had emerged as the single largest party by winning 14 seats in the Chandigarh municipal elections for 35 wards, but it had not won a majority.

"Over to electing a mayor for Delhi It will all depend on who can hold the numbers in a close contest, which way the nominated councillors vote etc" Malviya tweeted.

When asked who the BJP will field as its mayoral candidate, a party leader said, "It is too early to talk about this. Our party leadership will decide. Today is a victory day, let's celebrate."

Kejriwal in his victory speech said let's improve the condition of Delhi. He also sought the cooperation of the BJP and the Congress as well as the "blessings" of the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to improve civic amenities in the national capital.