AAP's successful debut at corporation bypolls, Congress shines while BJP struggles hard

NEW DELHI: Contesting the municipal corporation bypolls in Delhi were the debutant, the comeback kid and the old guard. The decision of the voters on Tuesday showed that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had been given a maiden chance to do something at the ward level, while Congress was granted another opportunity to redeem itself, leaving BJP to rue its burden of anti-incumbency.
In the neck-to-neck fight in 13 wards where vacancies were being filled, AAP and Congress won five seats each, leaving three for BJP, which has been in a majority in the municipal corporations for a decade now. It was AAP's debut in the civic bodies, while Congress had never earlier won the five seat that came into its kitty.

In many ways, the biggest performer of the day was Congress. Its first-time candidates felled BJP heavyweights such as Jitender Singh Shunty and Vinod Kumar Binny in Jhilmil and Khichripur, respectively.

“The feeling is amazing," exulted Anand Kumar, the victor at Khichripur. Pankaj Luthra, the winner in Jhilmil, was more constrained, “This was a much-needed victory for the party, not only to boost our spirits but also because this win sets the tone for next year's municipal elections."

Congress not only resurrected itself, but its candidate from Quammruddin Nagar, Ashok Bharadwaj, also logged the highest winning margin of 7,434 votes. However, a councillor in this ward is only a figurehead because much of the ward consists of unauthorised colonies for which the municipal councillor cannot do much.

What might have helped Congress relate to voters are the ward-wise newsletters and manifestos it brought out with solutions for specific civic issues in each area. It distributed 15,000 newsletters in the wards, indicating to the voter that the party meant to seriously take up their problems.

BJP senior leaders were left wondering why a 34 per cent vote share, the highest among the contenders, had not converted into a bigger victory . “The composition of each wards is different and voting is based on several aspects. Although AAP has won most of the wards, BJP still has highest number of votes which means people stand with us," reasoned Subhash Arya, leader of the House, South Corporation.

If the promise of longwished-for development spurred Bhati, a rural ward with poor amenities, to deny its votes to the political parties and plump for independent Rajender Singh Tanwar, Wazirpur's grouse had been the uncontrolled stray dog menace that successive councillors had failed to deal with.

BJP's Mahinder Nagpal won there with a comfortable margin of 3,608 votes and presumably needs to now confront the street canines before this 10-month tenure runs out.

AAP's Mohammed Sadiq got the thumb's up from the voters of Ballimaran, which is struggling to embrace change from its glory days as the home of poet Mirza Ghalib. As is typical to old Delhi, the congested roads and lack of parking space were major electoral issues.

Anil Malik, an AAP candidate, had the lowest win margin of 522 votes in Nanakpura ward, but that was enough to give him a hero's welcome in his party office in Nanakpura village.

Much the celebrations during the day understandably had the Congress' hand symbol in prominence, as the supporters of the winners marched with party flags on a searing Tuesday afternoon. But fireworks, beating of drums, distribution of sweets marked the scene in the ward offices of all the three major parties.