Delhi MCD bypolls: BJP, AAP win 2 wards each, Congress opens account; counting underway
New Delhi (PTI): BJP and AAP won two wards each, while Congress and All India Forward Bloc emerged victorious in one ward each, even as counting for the remaining wards was underway.
The counting of votes for the MCD bypolls to 12 wards began at 8 am, amid tight security at 10 counting centres in Delhi.
BJP's Suman Kumar Gupta defeated Aam Aadmi Party candidate Harsh Sharma by a margin of 1,182 votes. The saffron party also comfortably won the Shalimar Bagh B ward, with Anita Jain defeating AAP's Babita Rana by a margin of over 10,000 votes.
The Shalimar Bagh B ward was vacated after sitting BJP councillor Rekha Gupta won the assembly polls in February and became Delhi's chief minister.
AAP won the Mundka and Dakshinpuri wards, while Congress' Suresh Choudhary won the Sangam Vihar A ward by defeating BJP's Subhajeet Gautam.
Choudhary polled in 12,766 votes while his opponent managed to get 9,138 votes.
All India Forward Bloc candidate Mohd Imran won the Chandni Mahal seat by defeating AAP's Mudassar Usman by a margin of 4,692 votes.
The BJP was leading in Dichaon Kalan and Greater Kailash, while AAP was ahead in the Naraina ward in the initial trends.
Of the 12 wards where voting was held on November 30, nine were earlier held by the BJP and the remaining by AAP.
The State Election Commission, Delhi, has set up 10 counting centres at Kanjhawala, Pitampura, Bharat Nagar, Civil Lines, Rouse Avenue, Dwarka, Najafgarh, Gole Market, Pushp Vihar and Mandawali.
The strong rooms where the EVMs are stored after polling were secured with adequate security measures, including round-the-clock CCTV surveillance and the deployment of paramilitary and Delhi Police personnel.
Nearly 1,800 Delhi Police personnel and 10 companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed.
Around 700 personnel have been deployed for counting, and facilities have been provided for the candidates and their authorised counting agents, it added.
The vote percentage in the bypolls was 38.51 per cent as compared to 50.47 per cent in the MCD elections held for 250 wards in 2022.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
