Security personnel at a polling booth ahead of MCD elections at Gole Market in New Delhi on December 3, 2022.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Over 1.45 crore electors will decide the fate of 1,349 candidates today in the first civic polls since the merger of the three erstwhile municipal corporations — North, South and East — in May, and after the total number of municipal wards were reduced to 250 from the previous total of 272..
The high-stakes poll is largely being perceived as a two-way contest between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while the Congress looks to throw a surprise or two.
The run-up to the polls witnessed large-scale aggressive campaigns which included numerous roadshows and nukkad sabhas by both AAP as well as the BJP, which concluded on Sunday.
The BJP consistently deployed big names from its national and State leadership – the likes of party national president J.P. Nadda and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma – to levy allegations of corruption, paired with theatrics, against AAP.
AAP has maintained its stance of being “ kattar imandaar” (honest to the core) and mounted its campaign on civic issues revolving around waste management, the city’s three landfills and the MCD’s poor finances that they claim were largely ignored by the BJP during the latter’s 15-year term in the civic body.
Tight security in view of the polls in Delhi
Around 40,000 police personnel, 20,000 home guards as well as 108 companies of paramilitary and state armed police forces will be deployed to ensure smooth conduct of the MCD election, officials said.
Sixty drones will also be used to ensure law and order in sensitive areas, they said. — PTI
Voting begins for 250 municipal wards in the national Capital
Delhi gears up to elect 250 municipal wards from 1349 candidates on a chilly winter morning. Voting started at 8 a.m. and will continue till 5:30 p.m. After days of high-decibel campaigning by what is being seen as a two-way contest between AAP and BJP, the people of Delhi vote in the first civic polls since the merger of the three erstwhile municipal corporations.
Wholesale, retail markets to remain closed on December 4, says CTI
All wholesale and retail markets in the national capital will remain closed on December 4 in view of the civic body polls here, a traders’ body said on Saturday.
The Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) said popular markets, including Lajpat Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Krishna Nagar, Kamala Nagar, Karol Bagh, Laxmi Nagar among others will remain close.— PTI