MCD election results 2022: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which went all guns blazing against the Bharatiya Janata Party to end its 15-year rule in the recently-concluded Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections, has emerged victorious in what turned out to be a very closely fought contest.  

The AAP won 134 of the 250 wards while the Bharatiya Janata Party bagged 104 seats, the Congress 9, and Independents 3, as per official data. The trends are a far cry from the exit polls projections which had hinted at an AAP sweep in the capital’s re-unified civic body elections.

The victory has allowed the decade-old AAP to breach the long-held fortress of the BJP which it was hoping to conquer for a fourth consecutive term. The victory, though limited to the capital, is sure to reverberate in the scheme of national politics across the country.

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Perceptions matter in politics, and this is where Arvind Kejriwal is likely to score over his rivals despite the exit poll trends suggesting an unimpressive show by the AAP in the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections. For, the MCD verdict validates Kejriwal’s positioning as a “Kattar Imandaar” (hardcore honest) in the minds of voters. Bringing the “Delhi model” of governance, the chief minister appealed to the Delhi people to cast their vote to select for “honest and people-centric governance” during campaigning and always made it a point to underline the Delhi government’s works on education, health and the AAP’s integrity. 

The verdict also flies in the face of BJP’s accusations of corruption, misuse of power and reneging upon its promises on issues of the liquor policy, air pollution, Yamuna cleaning and the cases of money-laundering against its jailed minister Satyendar Jain.  

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Jain’s videos emerging from Tihar jail intensified the BJP-AAP fight for MCD elections. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia caught headlines as the Enforcement Directorate raided his house. The news of killing Arvind Kejriwal, as claimed by Sisodia, added a twist to the ‘Tu Tu Main Main’ between the BJP and AAP.  

Delhi voters, most of them settled here from other states for bread and butter, attach importance to the performance of the government only. The roles and responsibilities of Councillors and the MCD directly impacts the daily lives of voters who appear to have insulated themselves from the poll shrill and rhetoric.  

Delhi has a unique power structure that makes MCD an election behemoth for any political party. Delhi is a city and Union Territory where the BJP-ruled Centre plays key administrative roles while the AAP-ruled Delhi government has limited authority because of this power structure. The work area in Delhi is divided into three parts that are governed by Centre, state government and Municipal body.