Results unlikely to affect power structure in MCD councillors

The outcome of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) bypolls will not impact the civic body’s functioning as the BJP already enjoys a comfortable strength in the MCD House, councillors said after the results of the bye-elections were announced on Wednesday.

The BJP won seven of the 12 wards that went to bypolls on November 30, while the AAP bagged three. The Congress and the All India Forward Bloc secured one seat each.

According to the people cited above, the current composition of the 250-member MCD House is 123 BJP councillors, 101 AAP councillors, nine Congress councillors, 16 Indraprastha Vikas Party (IVP) councillors and an independent councillor.

“The results will not impact anything in the MCD as the BJP already has the numbers,” said IVP leader Mukesh Goel, adding that the outcome of the bypolls shows that the graphs of both the BJP and the AAP have dipped as they lost two strongholds each. The IVP did not contest the bypolls.

Leader of Opposition and AAP councillor Ankush Narang said the results were promising for his party. “The BJP deployed all its key faces, including Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and MPs, but still lost two of its strong seats,” he said.

BJP councillor and MCD Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh said the results reflect the people’s continued trust in the saffron party. “We have won seven seats. We will work even harder for the people,” he said. Several other BJP councillors asserted that the party has enough numbers to run the MCD House and affect decision-making through the standing committee. However, the BJP, with 123 members in the House, is still away from the majority mark of 126.