Delhi MCD Election 2017: AAP survey claims victory for party

The three municipal corporations of Delhi (MCDs) go to poll on April 23.

New Delhi, April 21: Notwithstanding the drubbing in the Rajouri Garden Assembly bypoll, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday claimed that its internal survey has predicted a massive victory for it in the civic polls in Delhi. AAP leader Ashish Khetan said that as per the survey, it will win 218 of 272 seats.

It has given the BJP, which has been controlling the three municipal corporations for the past 10 years, only 39 seats, whereas the Congress is predicted to win eight seats. Independents and smaller parties will win in seven seats.

The party also claimed that it is projected to get 51.2 per cent of the votes, while the BJP and the Congress will bag 28.1 per cent 9.2 per cent, respectively. Independents and other parties could get 11.5 per cent of the votes. Khetan said the survey, carried out between April 7 and April 17, interviewed 31,507 people.

The party has recently suffered drubbing in the bypoll to the Rajouri Garden Assembly constituency, where its candidate forfeited his deposit. The BJP wrested the seat from the AAP.

The implementation of 50 per cent reduction in domestic electricity bills and provision of free water up to 20,000 litres per household per month is showing maximum impact in JJ clusters and unauthorised colonies.

"Survey shows an overall satisfaction level of 80 per cent with electricity bills and 72 per cent with water bills across segments in Delhi. Sixty-two per cent of the respondents in the survey agreed with the question that the central government could take electricity and water away from Delhi government and hand it over to MCDs after elections," Khetan said.

Releasing results of internal surveys that the party is doing exceedingly well has been a very important part of the AAP's poll strategy. Other political parties also adopt a similar strategy. The party had released a similar survey for the 2017 Punjab and Goa Assembly polls, predicting the AAP's massive win in these two states.

However, the party's performance in Punjab was poor while it drew a blank in Goa. In both the states, its surveys claimed that the AAP was sweeping the polls.

PTI