MCD: BJP nominees elected chairmen of 8 out of 12 ward committees

New Delhi, June 2 (IANS) The BJP dominated Monday’s elections for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's (MCD) Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen of 12 ward committees, along with two standing committee members - each from South Zone and City-SP Zone.

Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva hailed the victory of party candidates as chairmen in 8 out of 12 ward committees as a clear signal of the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) disintegration.

“Today’s results of the elections for the ward committees and the standing committee of the MCD have clearly established that the AAP has not only lost public support, but now even its elected representatives and party office bearers are drifting away from it,” said Sachdeva.

He said that with BJP winning the Chairmanship in eight zones, including South Delhi, along with an additional victory in the Standing Committee elections, and the Deputy Chairmanship in the Rohini zone, clearly reflects the growing dissatisfaction among AAP’s municipal councillors towards the party leadership.

Sachdeva expressed confidence that the BJP will also win the election for the eleventh member of the Standing Committee to be held on Tuesday.

“Soon after, we will conduct the election for the Chairman of the Standing Committee and streamline the municipal administration to restart the stalled development works,” he said.

The election of the two standing committee members on Monday was necessitated after Prem Chauhan and Punardeep Singh Sawhney were elected as members of the Delhi Legislative Assembly in February.

While the BJP improved its hold over the civic body with election of its nominees to the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor earlier this year, the AAP, which was in majority earlier, has been struggling to keep its flock together.

The AAP received a setback on May 17, when 15 municipal councillors who were elected on the AAP ticket resigned from the party and announced the formation of a separate Indraprastha Vikas Party.

The newly-formed front is led by Hemchand Goel, with prominent former AAP leaders such as Mukesh Goel, Himani Jain, Devindra Kumar, Rajesh Kumar Ladi, Suman Anil Rana, Dinesh Bhardwaj, Runakshi Sharma, Manisha, Sahib Kumar, Rakhi Yadav, Usha Sharma, and Ashok Pandey playing key roles in the rebellion.

Mukesh Goel's departure from AAP was seen as a political setback for Kejriwal’s outfit, as he had earlier served as the Leader of the House for the party in the municipal House.

--IANS

rch/pgh