Delhi MCD Bypolls Results: AAP Wins 5 Wards, Congress 4, BJP 3

New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party won five wards while the Congress pipped Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to the second spot by winning four seats in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) bypolls, the reulst of which were announced on Tuesday morning.

Bypolls had taken place in 13 wards of MCD. The BJP won just three - Nawada, Shalimar Bagh and Wazirpur - while one seat was bagged by an independent.

AAP candidate Abhishek Bidhuri won from Tekhand ward by a margin of 1555 votes defeating BJP's Sunil Verma. Other winners from the party were Ramesh from Matiala, Anil Malik from Nanakpura and Ashok Kumar from Vikas Nagar, election officials said.

Congress candidate Pankaj won from the Jhilmil by a margin of 2419 votes. Pankaj defeated ex-MLA and BJP candidate Jitender Singh Shunty.

Congress candidate Yogita Rathi won from the women reserved seat of Munirka. The party candidates also won from Khichdipur and Qumraddin Nagar.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal thanked the Delhiites for reaffirming their faith in the party.

BJP candidate Bhupinder Mohan Bhandari won from Shalimar Bagh by a margin of 1451 votes. Party candidate Dr Mahender Nagpal won Wazirpur ward by 3608 votes while Nawada candidate Krishan Gehlot won by 4843 votes.

The bypolls to the wards falling under three corporations- SDMC (seven), NDMC (four) and EDMC (two)- were necessitated due to their sitting councillors getting elected to Delhi Assembly in 2015.

AAP, making its debut in the civic bypolls, failed to replicate its superlative performance of the 2015 Assembly elections when the party swept to power winning 67 out of the 70 seats. The BJP had managed to win only three while the Congress scored a zero.

The bypolls are seen as a semifinal to the 2017 MCD elections. The MCD which was trifurcated in 2012, has been ruled by the BJP for nearly a decade.