BJP retains MCD

The BJP won the North and East Delhi corporations, leaving the Congress on the fringes even in its strongholds in the slums, unauthorized colonies and the Muslim-dominant areas. In the South Delhi Corporation, BJP will have to win the support of independents and the BSP to muster a majority — a prospect that doesn’t look difficult — for a clean sweep. The BJP leaders claimed that the results indicated a distinct anti-Congress mood in Delhi. Last time, too, BJP had swept the MCD election, but lost the assembly poll as well as Lok Sabha seats in the city. However, what must be disconcerting for the Congress is its loss in East Delhi, where the Dikshit government has carried out focused development, and in the unauthorized colonies. Lack of development in the latter as well as irregularities in the regularization of unauthorized colonies are said to have damaged the party’s standing in these colonies where lakhs of voters live. Known to be traditional Congress voters, they appear to have turned their back to the party this time.