Delhi civic polls: BJP headed for win (Third Lead)

New Delhi, April 17 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was Tuesday headed for a big win in the Delhi civic polls with 49 of its candidates emerging victorious in 80 of 272 wards for which results were declared.

The party, which could control the civic administration in Delhi again, was also leading in more than 60 seats, election officials said. The Congress, whose Sheila Dikshit is in her third consecutive term as the Delhi chief minister, has claimed only 19 seats so far.

In the counting of votes for the recently trifurcated Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the BJP till 12.30 p.m. had secured 18 seats in north Delhi, 20 in south and 10 in east Delhi. The Congress had won six in north Delhi, nine in south and four in east Delhi.

Two candidates from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and one each from the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) won as well along with eight Independents.

The MCD, recently trifurcated by the Congress-led Delhi government, has jurisdiction over 97 percent of the area in the capital. The other three percent is under the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and the Delhi Cantonment Board.

There are now 104 wards each in the south and north corporations and 64 in the east. Of the 272 seats, 138 are reserved for women.

Counting of votes, cast in Sunday's polls, is taking place amid tight security. The votes decide the fate of 2,423 candidates who contested the polls.

The BJP, which had 164 councillors in the undivided MCD against the Congress' 67 and the BSP's 17, had highlighted issues of corruption and price rise by the Dikshit-led government.

Among the BJP candidates who have won are Pravesh Wahi from Rohini's ward No. 21, Shanta Jain from Rithala's ward No. 22, Gopal Singh from Prem Nagar ward No. 36, Raj Kumar from Kalyan Puri ward No. 213 and Mukta Nagpal from Subhash Nagar in west Delhi. Among the winning Congress candidates are Raj Kumari from Hari Nagar ward No. 111 and Azad Singh from outer Delhi's Mundka.

The BSP's Parmesh Kumar Chauhan won one seat in north Delhi's Sarai Pipal Thala and another candidate, Sarita, won from Madangir in South Delhi. The INLD's Seema Pandit won in Palam West, and the JD-U's Chandra Prakash won in Govindpuri.