MCD bypolls: 38.51% voter turnout recorded, litmus test for AAP and BJP

While for the BJP, this is the first major election after winning the Assembly polls in February with a sweeping mandate, the AAP and the Congress are trying to regain the lost ground in the Capital.

CM Rekha Gupta, who earlier represented Shalimar Bagh-B ward, cast her vote at polling at a voting booth in the area. On X, she posted an appeal for citizens to step out and vote, “because it is only through this vote that they will be able to choose the suitable representative for themselves, and Delhi’s development will gain momentum.”

Not too far from the polling booth where she cast her vote, near the CM’s residence, is a JJ cluster with around 500 jhuggis. Open drains run parallel to the slum cluster, clogged with garbage. Sumintra Devi (35) waited outside a polling booth for her husband so that they could cast their vote together. She was concerned about ongoing demolitions across slum clusters in the city. “The ruling party said that our houses will be protected… We still look at an uncertain future as we cast our vote,” she said.

Another female voter, who did not wish to be named, alleged the civic body does not clean the road outside the jhuggi. “They demand money to enter the lanes, but they should at least clean the main road in front of the school. They say it is a private drain. There is no sewer connection and during monsoons there is knee-deep waterlogging. Neta aake 1 mahine tak haath jhodte hai, par hum 5 saal haath jodte hai phir bhi kaam nahi karte (Leaders fold their hands for a month during elections, but we fold our hands for five years and still our work doesn’t get done),” she said.

However, for another voter the elections are important, as he said, “galti dobara nahi dohrayenge.. (We won’t repeat the same issues).”

While the BJP campaigned about its nine months of governance, rival AAP had raised the issue of demolition among others during the high-voltage campaign. “We have given our votes on the basis of development,” Omprakash Saxena (66), a resident of Shalimar Bagh, said.

At 26.76%, Greater Kailash, earlier represented by AAP’s Saurabh Bharadwaj in the Assembly, recorded the lowest turnout While some voters echoed concerns regarding MCD’s negligence of waste collection and pruning of trees, others said issues exist but they need to be addressed in a better manner.

Sujata Mehra, a voter from the ward, said, “GK’s sanitation condition is very poor. I have not seen much development in the last few months, and maybe also because the seat was lying empty for a long time. They carry out pruning of the trees after multiple requests, and then leave the rubbish on the roadside.”

For Anil Bawa (71), an agricultural researcher residing in the area, the election is “not just about the local municipal issues” but the broader picture. “Every year, waterlogging happens but what is the fix being offered?” he asked.

In Old Delhi, where the AAP won two wards in the last MCD elections, Chandni Chowk and Chandni Mahal, the party workers were on their toes to assist the voters. Chandni Mahal had earlier witnessed internal differences in the party coming out in the open.

Here the voters say, the ward is marred by a sanitation crisis. “We want a leader who will work for the people, they shouldn’t fill their pockets and leave. Since many years I have not seen any MCD vehicle coming to collect door-to-door garbage,” said, Muhammad Salman (35 ).

Meanwhile, amid polling, Delhi Congress president Devendra Yadav posted on X a video which showed a picture of a man purportedly being used for 90 people in the voters’ lists.

Official sources at the State Election Commission said that a complaint has been forwarded to the Election Commission of India and that the officials at the booth have been instructed to run proper checks while issuing slips.