MCD election 2017: Exit polls put BJP in celebration mode; wait for results, says Congress

With the exit polls predicting a clean sweep by the BJP in MCD elections, the party on Monday said they will win at least 215 of the 272 wards. The Congress, on the other hand, claimed it was sure of improving its seat tally in the three municipal corporations.

The votes will be counted on Wednesday.

The Axis India-Today exit poll predicted about 80 seats for BJP in North and South corporations and 50 seats in East corporation. AAP is predicted to be far behind in the second place in all three corporations, according to the poll, just ahead of the Congress.

Rajiv Babbar, vice-president, Delhi BJP said, “After assessing all survey reports and findings submitted by independent observers, who are party leaders from outside Delhi, we have reached a conclusion that we will get more than 215 seats.”

All members of the core committee of the party had met on Sunday night to review the polling in which all seven Lok Sabha MPs from Delhi and district in charges were also present.

The meeting was headed by Jitendra Singh, union minister, who was appointed one of the supervisors to look after municipal polls, by the BJP central leadership. “We discussed the exit polls, which are predicting massive victory for us. We have been saying this from day one. We are confident,” Babbar said.

The Congress leaders will meet on Monday evening to take stock of the situation. A senior party functionary said all surveys and exit polls are “biased” and the party has successfully managed to revive its lost support to a large extent.

“In the last assembly elections, the vote share of the party dipped to 9%. An initial analysis of voting trends on Sunday shows that we will get 28-29 % votes, which is certainly a great relief,” he said.

Referring to the surveys or exit polls, he said the party is not worried and it will “certainly do better”.

“Even if the BJP fares better than us, it has nothing to do with the performance of its councillors but the effect of the election results in the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image,” he said.

Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said he has no doubt about party’s victory in municipal election.

“All the 14 district presidents and observers are meeting on Monday. It is a routine exercise done after every election. We will be reviewing the polling and our assessment. All these surveys are biased and wrong. What they are predicting is impossible,” he said.