The stakes are high for the BJP and the AAP in the battle of the hustings for the largest municipal body which has an annual budget of over Rs 15,000 crore for 250 wards.
However, the issues of sanitation and primary education that come under the Municipal Corporation have surfaced at regular intervals before the civic elections as despite a sizable amount sanctioned for these sectors in the financial year 2022-23, the situation on the ground has remained the same for years.
The allocation for sanitation stands at Rs 4,153.28 crore which is 27.19 per cent of the total budget, while Rs 2,632.78 crore was sanctioned for education in the Financial Year 2022-2023. However, the civic body has failed to ensure basic amenities including sanitation and primary education in the national capital.
The main source of income for the MCD is the tax collected from property besides advertisement revenue, toll tax, and fee from car parking and from mobile phone towers. Property tax remains one of the main sources of revenue for the MCD and most of it is collected from South Delhi. The total property tax collection for 2021-22 was Rs 2,032 crore and around 11.50 lakh properties paid the tax during 2021-22.
Despite the allocation of 27.19 per cent for sanitation in its budget, there have been several instances when the sanitation workers have gone on strike due to either a delay in their salaries or the non-payment of their dues.
In June this year, hundreds of sanitation workers had gathered outside the MCD headquarters with demands such as retention of temporary workers, end of delay in salary payment, housing for workers, hiring of new workers, distribution of bonus.
In October, several sanitation workers under the MCD, who were on indefinite strike for regularisation of their services, called off the protest after reaching an agreement with the civic body officials.
Over 10,000 sanitation workers -- who are working on a contractual and permanent basis -- were part of the indefinite strike. The salary of a temporary worker is Rs 12,000 per month.
Among the 60,000 sanitation workers in the MCD, more than 30,000 workers have been working on a temporary basis since 1998, as per sources.
The workers on strike had refused to collect waste and sweep the streets saying that the MCD had made "empty promises for over 20 years".
Meanwhile, education has been on every party's manifesto. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress have very aggressively targeted the ruling BJP for its failure to improve the dilapidated condition of its schools and garbage mountains. On the other hand the BJP keeps on blaming the Delhi government for "stalling" development by not releasing funds as recommended by the finance commission.
Recently, a National Achievement Survey (NAS) report highlighted the poor performance of its schools at the class III level.
The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights had also issued a notice to the Municipal Corporation seeking an explanation.
The National Achievement Survey was conducted in November 2021 for students in classes III, V and VIII and its findings were released this year in May.
The NAS class III results had painted a dismal picture of teaching and learning in municipal schools. The class III results of MCD schools were below the national average in three subjects -- Language, Maths and Environmental Studies, as per the NAS.
The erstwhile three civic bodies -- North, East and South Delhi Municipal Corporations -- were reunified as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on May 22 with IAS officers Ashwani Kumar and Gyanesh Bharti assuming charge as the new municipality's special officer and commissioner, respectively.
As this election on December 4 will set the political narrative in the national capital for the next assembly and parliamentary elections, all the three parties, the BJP, AAP, and the Congress have sounded the poll bugle promising an agenda especially highlighting sanitation, education and garbage as major issues the civic agency needs to address.
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The saffron party is leaving no stone unturned to remain in power. AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has targeted the BJP, saying that sanitation will be the main issue in the election.
Last month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah came down heavily on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accusing the AAP government of "step-motherly treatment" to the erstwhile three Delhi civic bodies, and claimed that it owed them Rs 40,000 crore.
Shah added that in the next MCD elections, the people of Delhi will have to decide if they want to be 'AAP-nirbhar' or 'Aatmanirbhar'.
BJP leaves nothing to chance as it makes a bid for a fourth term at MCD
In the rup-up to the December 4 Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls, the national capital is abuzz with political activities with the BJP, which has been ruling the civic body for 15 straight years, striving to strengthen its position and the Aam Aadmi Party stepping up its efforts to wrest the civic body from it.
With the vote bank of the Congress, which previously formed the government in Delhi by winning the Assembly elections for three consecutive terms under the leadership of Sheila Dikshit, shifting towards the AAP, for the first time BJP is going to face a direct political fight with the Kejriwal government.
Speaking to IANS, BJP National General Secretary and member of the MCD election committee, Dushyant Gautam pointed out that his party refuses to consider AAP as a potential challenger as it is a "party of liars" which the people are aware of.
Terming Kejriwal a "negligent" chief minister, Gautam said that the BJP is going to win the civic polls once again on the basis of its developmental work.
Since 2007, the BJP continues to have a strong hold over the MCD. In 2007, despite the Manmohan Singh government at the Centre and Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi, the people voted for the BJP in the 2007 municipal elections.
Dikshit, the then Delhi Chief Minister in 2011, divided the MCD further into three civic bodies -- North, East and South Delhi Municipal Corporation to weaken the BJP in the civic body, he alleged. An unfazed BJP still romped back to power in the 2012 elections defeating the Congress in all the three municipal corporations.
During the 2017 polls, there was already a change in power both at the Centre and in Delhi with Narendra Modi taking over as the Prime Minister and Arvind Kejriwal forming his government in the national capital.
Though Kejriwal was at the peak of his popularity in 2017, the BJP won the civic polls for the third consecutive time in all the three municipal bodies, proving its mettle and giving out the message that it continues to enjoy the people's confidence.
This time, the elections to the three municipal corporations were proposed to be held in April 2022, but had to be postponed due to the initiation of the process of merging all three civic bodies into a single body by the Centre.
Now all the three municipal corporations of Delhi have been amalgamated into a single civic body again and after its delimitation, the total number of municipal wards has been reduced from 272 to 250.
As per the election schedule announced by the Delhi State Election Commission, polling for the upcoming MCD elections will be held on December 4 while the counting of votes will take place on December 7.
However, more than the AAP's thumping majority in the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, the bigger concern for the BJP is to counter AAP's aggressive election campaign.
The duo of Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia have repeatedly been cornering the saffron party on the landfill issue besides several other key issues being faced by the common man on a daily basis.
At the same time, the BJP, which is trying to defeat the Congress in other states apart from Delhi, is also feeling jittery due to the declining presence of the Congress in the city.
If the Congress contests the upcoming MCD elections going full throttle it will result in a triangular political fight between the BJP, Congress and the AAP, which will directly benefit the BJP.
However, despite AAP's aggressive campaigning, the BJP seems to be in a comfortable position on many fronts.
According to Dushyant Gautam, the BJP has been in power in the Delhi civic body for the last 15 years and the party will go to the public showcasing its achievements during this regime at the MCD. He adds that the saffron party will also expose the negative attitude, false poll promises and cases of corruption levelled against the AAP-led Delhi government.
Gautam says that it will tell the people of Delhi about how the Kejriwal government has turned the city into a gas chamber and also instead of cleaning the river Yamuna, the AAP government has polluted which was evident during the 'Chhath Puja'.
During the 2017 MCD elections, to neutralise the anti-incumbency, BJP played a major masterstroke by denying tickets to the sitting councillors.
This time also, the BJP's political opponents are waiting for its official policy of ticket distribution since they fear that this time, too, it may take any surprising move to counter the anti-incumbency.
AAP goes all out to end BJP's 15-year run, turning MCD polls into high-stakes battle
After seven years of remaining in power as the main party and ruling the national capital Delhi, the stakes on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are high to end the 15-year rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the MCD. This is the second time that the party is fighting a full fledged election for the MCD after its formation.
The AAP entered the MCD election fray for the first time in 2017 and managed to win 49 wards. Despite losing the election to the BJP, the party managed to replace the Congress as the main opposition. The Congress had registered victory on only 31 wards in the 2017 civic polls.
However, this time the MCD election has become like the 'Game of Thrones' for both the AAP and the BJP. If the AAP wins the election, the party will rule the MCD for the first time since its formation and the much hyped excuse of a funding crisis can be addressed as the party will be in power in both the assembly and the MCD. If the BJP wins the MCD election, it will create a record of ruling the civic body for the fourth time in a row. So, the stakes for both the AAP and the BJP are high in this MCD election.
The BJP has been able to win the civic body polls three times in a row in 2007, 2012 and 2017 and is ruling the MCD for the last 15 years. Taking a look at the MCD seat sharing, the BJP won 164 seats and took the MCD from the Congress that got only 67 wards in 2007. However, the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) was also in the foray and managed to win 17 wards while others got 24 seats in that election.
In the 2012 MCD election, the BJP managed to win again though the party lost 26 wards and registered victory on only 138 seats. The main opposition Congress gained 10 wards and won a total of 77 seats. And, the others managed to win 57 wards which also included the BSP's 15 seats.
It was the first election after the MCD was divided into three bodies under the UPA 2 regime. The AAP was not in the foray that year.
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In the 2017 civic polls, the BJP again came into power with 181 seats, a gain of 43 seats from the 2012 election. However, an important factor that must be underlined here is that after the entry of the AAP into the political landscape of Delhi, the election patterns for the MCD changed drastically. As the MCD used to be bipolar earlier, after the AAP's entry it became tripolar - BJP, Congress and AAP.
In this election, the AAP for the first time won 49 seats and the BJP gained 43 seats. The additional wards of the BJP and the AAP was of course a major blow to the Congress as it lost 46 seats and managed to win only 31 wards, emerging as the third party in the MCD. The AAP replaced Congress both in terms of seats and vote share.
The BSP also lost 12 wards and could manage to win only three wards, two in east Delhi - Gharoli and Seelampur - and one in north Delhi - Rohini C in 2017. However, the BSP seems to be missing after that election in Delhi's political landscape.
Looking at the zone wise performance of both the parties in 2017, the BJP won the highest number of 70 wards in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) with a vote share of 34.87 per cent, while the AAP managed to win only 16 wards with a 26.44 per cent vote share.
In the NDMC, the BJP won 64 wards with 35.63 per cent vote share, the AAP has 21 wards with a 27.88 per cent vote share. The BJP won 47 wards with a 38.61 per cent vote share while the AAP has 12 seats with a 23.40 per cent vote share. The Congress got 16 wards with 21 per cent, 12 wards with 20.29 vote share and 3 wards with 22.84 share respectively in the NDMC, SDMC and EDMC.
