On Sunday, New Delhi will hold by‑elections for twelve municipal councillor seats, a contest many view as a de‑facto vote of confidence in the BJP‑led Rekha Gupta administration. The outcomes are scheduled to be announced on December 3.
In the race leading up to it, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were mobilizing hard. Chief Minister Gupta fronted the BJP’s effort, while former chief minister Atishi led the AAP campaign. Senior figures from both sides toured the city, making appeals to voters in this high‑profile civic showdown.
A total of fifty‑three candidates will vie for the twelve vacancies. The BJP already controls nine of those seats, having secured them in the last election held in December 2022 when all 250 MCD positions were contested. After a series of seat‑shifts, the BJP now holds 115 councillor positions in the MCD.
A clean sweep would bring the BJP’s tally to 125, comfortably above the 126‑member majority threshold. Many hope that a strong showing will bolster Gupta’s standing and reinforce public endorsement of her e‑bus, healthcare, insurance initiatives and services for Chhath devotees.
For the AAP, the battle is equally crucial. With 99 councillors currently, the party seeks to reclaim some of the ground it lost when the BJP rose to power in the February Assembly elections. Meanwhile, the Congress is also intensifying its push to win a handful of wards and maintain relevance amid the BJP‑AAP duopoly.
The by‑elections were called because councillors in these ridings had moved on to national and state politics over the past year. Eleven members, including CM Gupta, now serve as MLAs, and Dwarka‑B has been vacant since last year when BJP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat was elected MP for West Delhi.
The open seats include Mundka, Shalimar Bag B, Ashok Vihar, Chandni Chowk, Chandni Mahal, Dwarka B, Dichaon Kalan, Naraina, Sangam Vihar A, Dakshin Puri (SC), Greater Kailash, and Vinod Nagar. These areas fall within key assembly constituencies such as Mundka, Wazirpur, Matiala, Najafgarh, Rajender Nagar, Deoli, and Patparganj.
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