The AAP lost six of the seven wards to the BJP in the Assembly constituencies represented by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and jailed Minister Satyendar Jain, both facing corruption charges.
The charges of corruption in excise, education and labour departments handled by Sisodia and VIP treatment to Jain in Tihar jail seem to have dented AAP’s prospect of a landslide victory in the MCD polls. Patparganj and Shakur Basti are considered strongholds of Sisodia and Jain respectively.
The BJP had mounted unrelenting attacks on the duo in the run-up to the MCD elections against the AAP’s “kattar imandar” (dry honest) slogans. The BJP alleged that the AAP had used the excise policy to “receive kickbacks” and promised that Sisodia, who was “instrumental” in framing it, would “face the music and the law”.
There are a total of four wards under the Patparganj constituency — Mayur Vihar Phase-II, Patpar Ganj, Mandawali, and Vinod Nagar. The BJP won from Patparganj, Mandawali, and Vinod Nagar, whereas Mayur Vihar Phase-II was bagged by the AAP.
As per data shared by the State Election Commission (SEC), BJP’s Renu Chaudhary won Patparganj by a margin of 403 votes against Seema of the AAP. Vinod Nagar was won by Ravinder Singh Negi of the BJP by a margin of 2,311 votes; Shashi Chandna of the BJP defeated Reena Tomar of the AAP by a margin of 186 votes in Mandawali ward.
Mayur Vihar Phase-II ward was won by AAP’s Devendra Kumar by a margin of 1,588 votes against Bipin Bihar of BJP.
In Shakur Basti, BJP’s Sikha Bharadwaj won Saraswati Vihar against AAP’s Urmila Gupta by 3150 votes. In Paschim Vihar, BJP’s Vineet Vohra defeated AAP’s Shalu Duggal by 2,044 votes. In Rani Bagh, BJP’s Jyoti Aggarwal defeated AAP’s Mithlesh Pathak by 1,387 votes.
Sisodia’s name figured in the FIR filed by the CBI and the ED as the prime accused in the excise policy scam. The two agencies had questioned him and raided his residence in October this year. After the raids, Sisodia and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed that the agency has given a clean chit to Sisodia.
The BJP leaders also filed a complaint to the Anti Corruption Branch against Sisodia, Jain and others alleging a huge scam to the tune of over Rs 2,000 crore has been carried out in NCT of Delhi in respect of construction of school rooms/buildings at highly inflated costs by the Government of Delhi. The BJP also alleged corruption to the tune of Rs 900 crore which it alleged was disbursed to ‘ghost, bogus’ construction workers by the Delhi government.
Jain, who is in jail in an Enforcement Directorate case, bore the brunt of the BJP’s attack, especially after purported videos of him getting a massage and receiving visitors in his cell came to light.
On November 19, a video went viral on social media showing VIP treatment being meted out to Jain. Jain was seen receiving foot and head massages. In a bizarre defence of Jain getting a foot massage, Sisodia claimed that Jain was taking physiotherapy for a ‘spine injury.’ Later on, it was revealed that the masseur of jailed Delhi Minister, whose videos of getting massages went viral, has been identified as one rape accused named Rinku, and not a physiotherapist.
The masseur providing massage to Satyendar Jain is a prisoner Rinku. He’s a prisoner in a rape case, charged under Section 6 of the POCSO Act & 376, 506 & 509 of IPC.
Multiple videos were leaked over social media from time to time showing Jain eating lavish food, getting massages and interacting with jail officials and other inmates. On December 2, it was revealed that the minister misused his powers and violated the prison rules.
An Inquiry Committee was led by the Principal Secretaries of the Home and Law Ministries and the Secretary of the Directorate of Vigilance to probe the violation of the rules of Tihar jail. It found that the AAP Minister ‘misused his official position and authority in cahoots with the prison authorities.