Delhi civic polls: BJP heads for big lead

New Delhi, April 17 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headed for a big lead in the Delhi civic polls with 22 of its candidates winning and the party also clocking leads in 80 of 141 wards while the Congress trailed with 30, election officials said Tuesday.

In the first three hours of counting till 11 a.m., 22 members of the incumbent BJP had secured their seats with huge margins. The Congress had secured only four seats in the early trends available. One independent candidate Reeta had also won from north Delhi.

BJP leader Vijender Gupta's wife Shobha Vijender Gupta defeated Congress' Monika Puri by a margin of 7,065 votes in Rohini central ward no 50. In east Delhi's ward no 237, BJP candidate Balbir Singh defeated Congress' Jagdish.

The BJP led with 40 seats in north Delhi, while the Congress followed with 10 seats.

South Delhi continued to witness a neck-and-neck fight between the political majors with the BJP leading on 26 seats and the Congress putting up with 16 seats.

BJP and Congress led in 14 and four seats in east Delhi respectively.

In the recently trifurcated civic body, there are 104 each wards in south and north corporations and 64 in the east, of which 138 seats are reserved for women. South Delhi has the highest number of 904 candidates followed by north (885) and east (634).

Counting for 272 wards across 32 centres is taking place amid tight security and the results are expected to come by 3 p.m. The polls will decide the fate of 2,423 candidates contesting the polls.

The BJP, which had 164 councillors in the undivided MCD against Congress' 67 and Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) 17, had highlighted issues of corruption and price rise by the Delhi government led by Sheila Dikshit.

Among the BJP candidates who won were 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 Congress candidates who won were Raj Kumari from Hari Nagar ward 111 and Azad Singh from outer Delhi's Mundka.