New Delhi: The loss of BJP in the Delhi MCD polls yet again betrayed the party’s weakness in making inroads among the scheduled caste (SC) voters here, as it managed to win just six out of the 42 wards reserved for the candidates from the group.
The 134 wards won by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) included 36 reserved wards, as per results announced on Wednesday.
The BJP striving to retain its hold on the civic body for the fourth time in a row managed to win 104 wards in all.
Several Delhi BJP leaders said that the performance of the party had been “dismal” particularly in the 12 Assembly constituencies reserved for SC candidates.
“The party repeatedly lost Assembly polls in these constituencies despite attempts to reach out to voters in these areas. Not even one of these 12 seats were won by the BJP in past several Assembly elections including in 2015 and 2020,” said a senior Delhi BJP leader.
The party also failed to strengthen its reach among Punjabi voters in Delhi, said its leaders.
“Out of 47 wards dominated by Punjabi voters, the BJP won 20 and AAP 27 wards,” said a senior functionary of Delhi BJP.
Earlier in the day, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta told reporters that the party had lost around 30-35 wards in the MCD polls with a narrow margin.
Gupta said that the BJP managed to obtain around 40 per cent votes and lost the MCD polls by just over 2 per cent votes.
“In 2017, BJP got 36.08 per cent votes in the municipal corporation elections and this time we got 39.09 per cent votes. This shows that there is increase in number of votes by 3 per cent,” he said.
The AAP polled over 42 per cent votes in the MCD elections.
It got 31,25,642 votes while the BJP obtained 28,98,187 votes. The difference of 2,27,455 votes cost the BJP 30 wards.
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