MCD Elections 2017 LIVE: 39% polling till 4 pm, Kejriwal cries foul on EVMs
Polling has begun for the 270 seats in the three municipal bodies of the national capital
 "Arvind Kejriwal")
Arvind Kejriwal
Ahead of the MCD elections, the BJP expressed confidence that the civic polls would prove that the saffron party was far ahead of other political parties. "The MCD polls will once again prove that BJP is far ahead of other political parties and there's no parallel to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity," BJP leader S Prakash was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Hitting out at the AAP and Congress, another BJP leader Vinay Shasrabuddhe said people would discard both parties in the MCD polls. "The BJP wants renewal of the mandate. We know that people have discarded the Congress because of corruption and now they will reject AAP, too, because of their anarchical politics," he told ANI.
The Congress, meanwhile, also expressed confidence about winning the MCD polls. The party on Sunday said the misrule of the BJP and the breach of promises by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would lead to the success of the grand old party in the civic polls.
"We are expecting very good results. People are fed up with the BJP rule, where it has miserably failed. So, the BJP is not in the favourable list as far as people are concerned. The AAP is almost written off by the people, because after the Rajouri Garden elections, it is evident that people have rejected the party. The breach of promises by Kejriwal and misrule of the BJP are before the people of Delhi. People will also remember the good old days when the Congress had provided very good administration in the corporation. So, we are fairly hopeful that we will get good response from the people of Delhi," Congress leader P C Chacko said.
Echoing Chacko's views, Congress leader Tom Vadakkan said the party had high expectations from the MCD polls. "We have high expectations from the MCD elections and it is after all people's mandate. We are keenly watching. Our workers are enthusiastic and candidates are extremely confident. So, let us see and wait for the people's mandate," he said.
As for the AAP, CM Arvind Kejriwal had attacked Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Friday, saying Baijal "fires one bullet at me" every day. This was Kejriwal's first direct attack against Baijal since he was appointed the Lt Governor of Delhi on December 31, 2016.
Noting that his government tries to coordinate on various issues related to the development of the national capital, both with the Lt Governor as well as the Centre, the Delhi chief minister said "the firing" intensified just before the MCD polls. "We have maintained a good relationship with him (Baijal). The new LG has worked for first three months (in coordination with us).
"We did not utter a word against him before the MCD elections but despite that he fires one bullet at me every day and on this, we are not speaking against him. Tell me what is our fault?" Kejriwal had told PTI in an interview. His remarks came in the wake of Baijal ordering recovery of Rs 97 crore from the AAP which was "splurged" on ads and cancellation of office allotment to the party which the Delhi chief minister termed as "politically motivated".
The polling is taking place across over 13,000 booths spanning 272 wards of the three MCD civic bodies.
Of the 13,000 polling booths that the Delhi Election Commission has set up, over 3,000 have been identified as sensitive, while around 1500 are hypersensitive. Nearly 57, 000 police personnel have been deployed to ensure free and fair polls in the national capital. To avoid any untoward incident during the elections, the Delhi government has ordered that dry days will be observed in the national capital on the polling day.
Polling in two MCD wards — Maujpur in East Delhi and Sarai Pipal in North Delhi — postponed due to death of two candidates.
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First Published: Apr 23 2017 | 5:03 PM IST
