BJP Wins 7 of 12 MCD By-Polls, AAP Holds Ground, Congress Breaks Drought

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delivered a resounding performance in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) by-polls held across twelve wards, capturing seven seats and further consolidating its authority in the national capital. Announced on Wednesday, these results come as a strong affirmation of the party’s electoral momentum, building on its decisive victory in the February 2025 Delhi Assembly elections that ended a decade-long rule by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and installed Rekha Gupta as Chief Minister.

In a contest that highlighted shifting local dynamics, the Aam Aadmi Party secured three wards, demonstrating resilience despite its removal from power at the state level ten months ago. The Congress, which had failed to open its account in the Assembly elections earlier this year, finally broke its prolonged electoral drought in Delhi by winning the Sangam Vihar A ward. The twelfth seat, Chandni Mahal, was claimed by Mohd. Imran of the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), marking a rare instance of a smaller outfit prevailing in the capital’s fiercely contested urban politics.

Although the BJP entered the by-polls controlling nine of the twelve wards, it surrendered two—one to the Congress in Sangam Vihar A and another as an unexpected loss in Chandni Mahal to the AIFB. However, the party offset these setbacks by wresting the high-profile Chandni Chowk ward from AAP, where candidate Suman Gupta emerged victorious. In retaliation, AAP seized the Naraina ward from the BJP. Despite these exchanges, the BJP’s overall majority in the 250-member MCD remains unassailable, with its tally now standing at 122 seats compared to AAP’s 102 and a marginally improved Congress strength of nine.

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These by-elections carried significant symbolic weight, serving as the first major electoral examination for Chief Minister Rekha Gupta since assuming office. The BJP comfortably retained her former Shalimar Bagh B ward through Anita Jain, and also defended Greater Kailash, Ashok Vihar (albeit by a narrow margin of 405 votes secured by Veena Asija), and other strongholds. For AAP’s newly appointed Delhi unit convener Saurabh Bhardwaj, retaining all three wards previously held by the party—Dakshinpuri, Mundka, and Naraina—offered grounds for measured optimism amid an otherwise challenging phase following the Assembly defeat.

The Congress victory in Sangam Vihar A stood out as the most striking upset of the day. Candidate Suresh Chaudhary polled 12,766 votes to defeat his BJP rival by a convincing margin of 3,628 votes, despite intensive campaigning by senior BJP leaders, including the Chief Minister herself. Chaudhary attributed the win to public dissatisfaction with the ruling party’s campaign focus, asserting that voters rejected appeals devoid of tangible developmental promises. While the BJP continues to dominate Delhi’s municipal landscape, localized reversals and the Congress’s solitary breakthrough signal that anti-incumbency sentiments and ward-specific issues remain potent forces beneath the surface of the capital’s political terrain.

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