Counting of votes for Delhi civic polls tomorrow

Polling for all the wards spread in three corporations — East,South and North — were held yesterday in which over 55 per cent polling was recorded during which electoral fate of 2,423 candidates,majority of them independents were sealed.

Stakes are high for both the national parties in the municipal polls,for which voting took place yesterday,as it is considered as a semifinal ahead of Assembly elections next year.

Both Congress and BJP claimed their parties would sweep the polls. Delhi Congress chief J P Agarwal has said he was “100 per cent confident” about his party’s victory while his BJP counterpart Vijender Gupta was “certain” his camp was going to win all the three Corporations.

There are 104 wards both in South and North Corporations and 64 in the East,of which 138 seats are reserved for women. South has the highest number of 904 candidates followed by North (885) and East (634).

The municipal polls is seen as crucial for Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit,the Congress as well as the Opposition BJP with leaders believing that it could be an indicator for what is in store for them in the Assembly polls which are 18 months away.

BJP,which has 164 councillors in the undivided MCD against Congress’ 67 and BSP’s 17,has been harping on alleged corruption by Dikshit government while the Congress has been targeting the saffron party on its “inefficient and corrupt” administration in MCD.

In the 2007 polls to the undivided Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD),the BJP had bagged 36.17 per cent of the around 42.35 lakh votes polled while the Congress got 29.17 per cent. The BSP’s vote share was 9.87 per cent.