AAP wins 5 wards in MCD by-polls, setback for BJP

Congress comes in second with four seats

Continuing its winning streak in Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday bagged five seats in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) by-polls.

AAP's Abhishek Bidhuri won the Tekhand seat by 1,555 votes, Anil Malik won the Nanakpura seat by 552 votes and Mohammadd Sadiq emerged victorious in Ballimaran ward number 86 won by 2,066 votes respectively.

The AAP also won from the Matiala and Vikas Nagar seats.

The Congress came in second bagging four seats.

Congress' Pankaj Jeete won from Jhilmil ward number 238 by 10,318 votes, defeating Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) Jitender Singh Shunty.

Anand Kumar of Congress won the Khichripur seat by 2,419 votes in the by-poll.

Congress' Ashok Bhardwaj won from Kamaruddin Nagar ward number 44 and Yogita Rathi bagged the Munrika seat.

BJP's Mahender Nagpal won from Wazirpur ward by 3,608 votes, Bhupendra Yadav won from Shalimar Bagh ward number 65 by 1,451 votes and Krishna Gehlot won the Nawada seat with 4,000 votes, respectively.

Independent candidate Rajender Singh Tanwar won from Bhati ward.

45.9% of the 6,68,870 eligible voters exercised their franchise in the high-stake by-poll for the wards falling under three corporations – South Delhi Municipal Corporation (7), North Delhi Municipal Corporation (4) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (2) – being billed as a litmus test for the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP's popularity.

The 13 wards, which went to the by-polls on Sunday, are Quamruddin Nagar, Shalimar Bagh (North), Ballimaran, Nawada, Vikas Nagar, Matiala, Nanakpura, Munirka, Bhati, Tehkhand, Khichripur, Jhilmil and Wazirpur.

The by-elections were necessitated as 13 Councillors got elected to the Delhi Assembly in 2015.