“BJP Failed Miserably, Did Nothing For Delhi In 15 Years”: Manish Sisodia

As voting is underway for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections on Sunday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia accused BJP of not doing anything for Delhi for the last 15 years and said that it has failed miserably to work for the people of the city.

Mr Sisodia appealed to the people of the national capital to vote in record numbers and to make the city clean.

“1.5 crore people are going to vote in Municipal Corporation polls today. I appeal to people to keep in my mind that MCD’s priority is to keep Delhi clean, sanitation issues, landfill, corruption, parking mess, and stray animals and to build schools and hospitals among others. everyone to think before voting and vote for keeping Delhi clean. Vote for a garbage-free Delhi,” he said.

He further said that the BJP has done the delimitation but the people of Delhi have decided to bring Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the civic body too.

Targeting the BJP, the Deputy Chief Minister said, “BJP has not done anything for Delhi since 15 years, it has failed miserably to work for the people. BJP had nothing to answer, that is why they started negative campaigning.”

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to people to vote for a party that is honest and would do good work, and not for one that does not work.

“Vote for an honest party, vote for decent and good people… Do not vote for those who abuse corruption, hooliganism… Do not vote for those who litter Delhi… Vote for those who will make Delhi shine and clean… Vote for those who work, don’t vote for those who stop working,” he said in a tweet.

“Today there is voting to make Delhi clean and beautiful, there is voting to make a corruption-free government in the Municipal Corporation. My appeal to all the Delhiites – do go to cast your vote today to form an honest and working government in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi,” Mr Kejriwal added.

The voting for 250 wards began at 8 am and will conclude at 5:30 pm.

Over 1.45 crore people are eligible to vote in civic polls in which 1,349 candidates are in the fray, setting the stage for the high-stakes civic polls largely seen as a three-way contest between the BJP, the AAP, and the Congress.

The counting of votes will be done on December 7.

According to data shared by the State Election Commission officials, the total number of voters in Delhi is 1,45,05,358 — 78,93,418 males, 66,10,879 females, and 1,061 transgender persons. There are 250 wards in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

Delhi State Election Commission has set up 13,638 polling stations for the elections.

The State Election Commission said a large workforce of election functionaries and security agencies have put humungous efforts to make necessary preparations for conducting elections at 13,638 polling stations spread across Delhi. Further, 68 Model Polling Stations and 68 Pink Polling Stations have been established for the quality experience of the voters. Adequate arrangements for the deployment of forces have been made.

68 Model Polling Stations have been set up with facilities including a waiting area/lounge, distribution of candies/toffees to voters, a selfie booth, and Civil Defence Volunteers to help PwD/senior citizens

68 Pink booths have been set up with facilities including all-female staff at the polling station, a feeding room for lactating mothers, a creche facility for small kids accompanying voters, swings for kids, selfie booth.

The Commission said it has made elaborate arrangements for a “safe, secure and pleasant” voting experience. These measures are required to keep the electoral field free and to ensure that a level playing field is afforded to all political parties and candidates.

Both the AAP and the BJP have exuded confidence that they will emerge victorious in the polls while the Congress is trying to regain lost turf.

The BJP, which has governed the civic body in Delhi since 2007, is looking to maintain its winning streak while the Aam Aadmi Party, which has a majority in the Assembly, is looking to make inroads in the first municipal election in the capital after the delimitation of wards.

This is the first civic election after the fresh delimitation exercise. There were 272 wards in Delhi and three corporations- NDMC, SDMC, and EDMC in Delhi from 2012-2022 that later reunified into an MCD that had formally come into existence on May 22.