MCD Election 2022: Voting will be held today for 250 wards of Delhi; Check Timings, Arrangements Here

 

• Polling for 250 wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will be held today. This will be the first municipal body election in the national capital after the delimitation of wards.

Voting will be held for 250 wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) today. This will be the first municipal body election in the national capital after the delimitation of wards.

Both the BJP and the AAP have fielded 250 candidates, while the Congress has contested only 247 seats. Voting for the polls is to be held from 8 am to 5:30 pm. The counting of votes will be done on December 7.

The elections are witnessing a close contest between the BJP, which currently holds the reins of municipal bodies in the national capital, and the AAP, apart from the Congress. The BJP has ruled the MCD for 15 years and is now trying to come back to power for the fourth time.

MCD election preparations

The Delhi State Election Commission has set up 13,638 polling stations for the civic elections. Around 40,000 police personnel, 20,000 home guards as well as 108 companies of paramilitary and state armed police forces have been deployed for the smooth conduct of the MCD elections.

As reported by news agency ANI, 68 model polling stations have been set up which include a waiting room/ lounge, distribution of candy/ toffee to voters, a selfie booth and civil defense volunteers who will help PWD/ senior citizens .

In addition, 68 pink booths have been set up at the polling station with facilities including all-women staff, a dining room for lactating mothers, a crèche facility for small children accompanying voters, swings for babies, selfie booths, according to the report .

As per the data shared by the State Election Commission officials, the total number of electors in Delhi is 1,45,05,358 including 78,93,418 males, 66,10,879 females and 1,061 transgender persons. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has 250 wards.


The sale of liquor has been temporarily banned in the national capital. The Excise Department of the national capital had announced that there would be a ban on the sale of liquor in Delhi for three days from the evening of December 2.

A trader's body told PTI that all wholesale and retail markets will remain closed in the national capital on December 4 in view of the civic polls. The Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) said popular markets including Lajpat Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Krishna Nagar, Kamla Nagar, Karol Bagh, Laxmi Nagar among others will remain closed.

Metro train services on all lines will start at 4 am from all terminal stations on the day of civic elections. According to DMRC, trains will run at an interval of 30 minutes till 06:00 am on all lines. Metro trains after 6 am will run as per the normal Sunday timetable, DMRC said in a statement.

BJP Vs AAP:

With AAP trying to wrest power from the BJP, the saffron party is eyeing the civic body for the fourth time in a row. The Congress has suffered back-to-back defeats in the national capital since 2015 in the parliamentary, assembly and municipal elections.

In 13 days of vigorous campaigning, BJP leaders claimed victory in the elections to 250 MCD wards on December 4 and launched an all-out attack on the AAP and its convenor Arvind Kejriwal over corruption.

AAP leaders led by Kejriwal attacked the BJP with equal fervour, raising issues such as the landfill in the city and "corruption" in the municipal corporations during the saffron party's 15-year rule.

BJP national vice-president and in-charge of the party's Delhi unit Vyjayanti Panda claimed that the city's voters would vote for development. Panda said, "BJP is going to get comfortable majority in MCD."

The AAP leadership has said that it will win more than 200 wards. Kejriwal had earlier claimed during the election campaign that the BJP would not secure more than 20 wards.

With 18% candidates facing criminal cases, AAP has become the party with the maximum number of 45 candidates with criminal records in municipal elections this year, said the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) in its report.

According to the ADR report, BJP has the maximum number of crorepati candidates in the fray, followed by AAP and Congress. Two of the top three richest candidates are from the BJP and one from the AAP.

In the 2017 civic polls, the BJP had won 181 of the 270 wards. Voting could not be held in two seats due to the death of the candidates. AAP had won 48 wards and Congress 27. The voting percentage in the 2017 civic polls was around 53.