With just two days left for the elections to the Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCD), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are locked in a triangular battle and are leaving no stones unturned to woo voters. Other parties in the battle include Yogendra Yadav-led Swaraj India, Janata Dal-United, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Independents are also in the fray.
The civic body elections are being seen as a test for AAP-led Arvind Kejriwal government in the wake of the Rajouri Garden by-poll defeat. The results of these polls will be announced on April 26. As the 272 wards of the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCD) are set to go to polls on April 23, here are a few things you should know about the MCD polls:
Around 132,00,000 electorates would be casting their votes in the civic polls
There will be 10,000 polling stations spread across the capital.
The counting of the votes will be taking place in 34 counting stations.
North MCD has 42 seats reserved for woman, while South MCD has 45 seats, East MCD has 27 seats reserved for women.
The BJP had emerged as the single largest party in MCD 2012. The party has been in power of all the three civics bodies in Delhi for over a decade.
Over 272 councillors – NDMC and SMDC have 104 seats each, while the EDMC (64) seats – are trying their luck in the elections.
Swaraj India, the new political party led by Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, will also make its political debut with the civic body elections.
This is the first time that the voters will be able to use the 'None of the Above' (NOTA) option in the MCD polls.
New faces in the fray are Swaraj India party candidate Savita Mukhi, BJP candidate Ritu Goel, AAP candidate Neeru Aggarwal, Congress candidate Seema Kaushik.
AAP hopeful of winning 218 seats while BJP projects to win 200 seats.