The Hindu : Massive 20 per cent swing after Lok Sabha poll

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 29, 2002

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Massive 20 per cent swing after Lok Sabha poll

By Our Staff Reporter

The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, being congratulated on Thursday by the Delhi Chief Minister, Shiela Dixit (extreme left), and supporters after the party's victory in the election to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. — Photo: Anu Pushkarna

NEW DELHI MARCH 28. The huge gap of 16 per cent between the BJP and the Congress in the total votes polled for the civic elections resulted in the latter's historic victory with little more than four-fifths of the 134 seats in the MCD House going their way.

As per statistics compiled by the State Election Commission, the Congress bagged 46 per cent of the total votes polled in the municipal elections on Sunday, while the BJP got only 30 per cent. The Congress won as many as 108 seats and the BJP managed to get only 16.

Though the BSP could win just one seat, it bagged 6 per cent of the votes polled. Independents and others accounted for 13 per cent, while 5 per cent of votes polled, which seems to be on the higher side, were rejected during counting process on Wednesday. While the Janta Dal (S) and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha won two seats, independents got five.

The complete disillusionment of the residents with the BJP is evident from the fact that there has been a swing of a massive 20 per cent of total votes polled in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections when the party had won all the seven seats in the Capital.

On the other hand, there has not been any substantial jump in the vote percentage of the Congress, which has registered an increase of 4 per cent from 42 per cent. However, the party is still two per cent behind the 1998 Assembly elections when it stormed the Delhi Secretariat with 48 per cent vote, while the BJP had got 34 per cent.

``In vote percentage terms, this election has been worse than the 1998 Assembly elections,'' said a senior State Election Commission official.

However, given the fact that a little less than 50 per cent of the Capital's voters cast their votes, less than one-fourth of the residents have opted for the Congress. While the Congress has bagged 23.7 per cent of the total votes, the BJP got 15.46 per cent, the BSP three per cent and the rest more than 10 per cent.

Of the seven Parliamentary Constituencies, the BJP failed to open its account in two -- Chandni Chowk, from where the Minister of State in the PMO, Vijay Goel is an MP and Delhi Sadar from where senior party leader and the former Chief Minister, Madan Lal Khurana is an MP. While the Congress won six and JD(S) two of the total eight seats in Chandni Chowk, it won all the ten seats in Sadar. In 1997, the BJP had won three seats from Chandni Chowk and nine from Sadar. Of the 42 seats in Outer Delhi, the BJP has won just six, and the Congress 33. In East Delhi which accounts for 40 seats, BJP could manage just three seats as against 34 of the Congress. In 1997, the BJP had won 21 and 23 seats in Outer and East Delhi respectively as against 16 and 10 by the Congress.

Compared to other Parliamentary constituencies, the BJP has performed slightly better by winning four seats, while the Congress bagged 13: just the opposite in 1997.

In New Delhi the Congress has five out of six wards while one has gone to the BJP as against two and four in 1997 respectively. In Karol Bagh, the Congress won eight while the rest two went to BJP, as against three and seven in 1997.

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