Trifurcation lends April 15 MCD polls extra significance
The coming elections to Delhi’s trifurcated municipal corporation are historic for that reason — the outgoing incumbent, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress alternative will be battling to control the three new civic creations — the south, north and east corporations.s.
With a total annual outlay of Rs 6,700 crore at stake, the April 15 poll will determine whether the Congress, which had ridden roughshod over all the opposition in dividing the MCD last year, will manage to wrest power, too. The party has been ruling the city government since 1998; the civic body has changed hands in between.
The BJP has none less than its national president, Nitin Gadkari, actively campaigning. The 272 wards at stake cater to 97 per cent of the city’s population (the rest is looked after by nominated bodies).
After the civic body’s trifurcation, the new South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) stands to be the richest, with projected annual income of Rs 2,721 crore.
Those of the north and east have been pegged at Rs 2,238 crore and Rs 1,074 crore, respectively. As property tax is the only major source of revenue, the South Delhi body is the best off, with many high-income localities, five-star hotels and farm houses under it.
The idea behind the trifurcation is bringing better access and services for citizens. While local body elections should be fought on local issues, residents complain that nobody is talking about choked sewage, bad roads, traffic snarls, parking-space shortage, ill-lit streets and other basic issues such as the supply of electricity and water.
Political parties are, typically, into accusing each other. Birendra Chaudhry, in charge of the Congress’s poll affairs in Delhi, says the BJP has made the corporation bankrupt. “They are raking up national issues in a local election, because they have little show as evidence of their work in these past five years,” he told Business Standard. The Congress alleges an administrative liability of Rs 3,000 crore, and that the MCD owes around Rs 1,000 crore to contractors and other workers.
Gadkari, on the his party’s behalf, has made the Congress-led UPA’s list of scams and corruption a central issue for his party in these polls. Congress’ insiders, sensing trouble on that front, are planning to launch a communication campaign to draw the attention of voters to local issues.
Their advertisements and radio jingles will contrast the state of the parks, roads and flyovers under a BJP-led MCD with the development under a Sheila Dikshit-headed Congress government in Delhi.
These polls are also a test for Dikshit, in her third term as chief minister. The Congress, with all seven Lok Sabha seats here in its hands, besides the three Rajya Sabha seats, is keen to get its hands on municipal power, too. In this final week, Diskhit will be campaigning extensively, with party MLAs and MPs, including Union ministers.
Senior Congress politicians say the results will have little bearing on the stature of the CM. Yet, they know a victory in these elections would give a much-needed shot in the arm for the Congress.
A political observer says the trend of elections in Delhi shows a see-saw between assembly and municipal polls. “People here vent their anger in one elections, but are mollified with the next set of polls,” he says.