Delhi MCD Election Result 2017: BJP shines, AAP baffles, Congress dwindles

As the much-awaited MCD results were announced on Wednesday, here is a look at how each party fared.

After a fierce triangular battle and intensive campaigning in the Delhi municipal polls, the BJP won a landslide victory by winning 181 seats, AAP registered a second place by winning 48 seats and the Congress bagged 30 seats, while others got 11 seats on 270 of 272 wards of three municipalities.

The MCD poll verdict will have strong political ramifications and will change political equations beyond Delhi. The high-stakes civic polls were held on April 23, which saw a voter turnout of 53.58 per cent. Polling was held in 270 of the 272 wards of the three municipal corporations.

As the much-awaited MCD results were announced on Wednesday, here is a look at how each party fared.

Modi wave gives clean sweep to BJP in MCD results

The BJP that successfully retained the turf, it has held for the last 10 years, had fielded fresh faces in 267 wards and it got a favourable mandate in 180 wards. It won 71, 64 and 46 wards in SDMC, NDMC and EDMC, respectively.

The BJP's move to field fresh candidates was seen as a strategy to counter anti-incumbency, but the party claimed it wanted to "give opportunity to the next generation".

Addressing the media after the BJP was poised to sweep the Delhi civic polls, the party president Amit Shah said that the Delhi municipal poll win comes after the party won convincingly in the Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur assembly polls.

"The people of Delhi have showed that negative kind of politics will not win and only positive politics will win, while adding "This is a vote in favour of Modiji's three years in power."

By getting a favourable verdict in the MCD elections, it can be said that the BJP has achieved a stepping stone to victory in the next Delhi assembly polls.

Baffled AAP begins blame-game

In a humiliating defeat, the AAP government led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal lost in all three municipalities. Municipality wise, it won 22 seats in NDMC, 15 in SDMC and 9 in EDMC.

People of Delhi clearly preferred to choose "dengue" party (as Kejriwal labelled BJP on Twitter) over Aam Aadmi Party.

Kejriwal had threatened Delhi voters that if they vote for BJP, then they would themselves be responsible for dengue and chikungunya.

The AAP had recently faced a humiliating defeat in Rajouri Garden bypoll and before that it also suffered a huge defeat in Punjab and a drew a blank in Goa assembly polls.

Refusing to acknowledge its rout, AAP-led Delhi government had warned of launching a "movement" if the MCD exit poll results, which have predicted a BJP sweep, come true. The AAP continued to raise the issue of "faulty EVMs" with Kejriwal railing at the Delhi election commission.

In May 2016, bypolls were held in 13 wards of the MCD, in which the 'débutante' AAP had won impressive 5 seats, followed by the Congress- 4, the BJP- 3 and an Independent candidate- one seat.

In 2015 Delhi assembly elections, Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP had stunned all by bagging 67 seats out of 70 seats, but now the baffled party is in shambles.

Dwindling Congress' future at stake

The Congress had fielded 271 candidates and hoped for a resurgence, as it banked on its big guns during campaigns to shore up its fortune. The party won 14 seats in NDMC, 12 seats in SDMC and 5 in EDMC.

Following the debacle, the Delhi Congress Chief Ajay Maken resigned from his post, while accepting the defeat, shortly after the results were announced.

One of the main reason behind Congress party's poor performance can be defections.

Few days before MCD elections, four-time MLA Arvinder Singh Lovely and Delhi women's Congress chief Barkha Shukla Singh left the party and joined hands with the BJP.

Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit was cornered from election campaigning and she also blamed Maken for the exodus of senior Congress leaders.

Despite infighting, the Congress managed to finish at second in the recently concluded Rajouri Garden bypoll.

The débutante Swaraj India

Launched on October 2, 2016 by Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, after parting ways with Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, the Swaraj India Party entered into poll fray by making its debut in MCD elections.

To avoid any embarrassment, Yadav made it clear that he has "zero expectations" to win any seat and it would be a plus point for his party, if it wins any. Swaraj India claimed that it kept key issues like cleanliness, health and hygiene as its main agenda.