The Bharatiya Janata Party seems set to retain power in all three civic bodies of Delhi, which had their polls on April 23. Counting for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections began at 8 am on Wednesday, and early trends show the saffron party with a major lead over its main rivals, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress. The BJP had won the last two civic polls in the Capital.

The BJP’s Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari dedicated the party’s victory to the 25 CRPF jawans who were killed in an encounter with Maoists recently. “We dedicate this win to CRPF jawans who lost their lives in the Sukma attack,” said Tiwari. However, the AAP and Congress have alleged that electronic voting machines were tampered with during the polls.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the public for their “faith” in the party. He tweeted, “Grateful to the people of Delhi for the faith in BJP. I laud the hardwork of [Delhi BJP] team... which made the resounding MCD win possible.”

Here are the results at 5.30 pm, according to NDTV:

MCD East (64 seats)

  • BJP: 48
  • AAP: 10
  • Congress: 3
  • Others: 2

MCD North (104 seats)

  • BJP: 64
  • AAP: 21
  • Congress: 15
  • Others: 3

MCD South (104 seats)

  • BJP: 70
  • AAP: 16
  • Congress: 12
  • Others: 6

The elections had seen a poor voter turnout of only around 53.58%. Residents of the Capital voted to elect 270 members to three civic bodies – South Delhi Municipal Corporation, North Delhi Municipal Corporation and East Delhi Municipal Corporation.

As many as 35 centres – 16 in North Delhi, 13 in the south and six in the east – are still counting the votes. Around 90,000 security personnel have been deployed at these locations to prevent untoward incidents.

As results trickled in, both the Congress and AAP reiterated their claim that Electronic Voting Machines had been manipulated to favour the BJP. Delhi Rural Development Minister Gopal Rai said the results were an “EVM wave”, not a “Modi wave”. His AAP colleague and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia claimed BJP leaders had “written books on EVM tampering”, but the same leaders were not claiming that the voting machines were working fine.

Delhi Congress President Ajay Maken, who has offered to resign from the post, said the Election Commission should launch an investigation to check the credibility of EVMs. “While we cannot trust EVMs, we must trust the EC,” he said. Congress leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, however, pointed out that it appeared as though the losers always blamed EVMs for their defeat.

AAP National Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had complained about malfunctioning Electronic Voting Machines on the day of the polls. He had claimed that people with voters’ slips were not being allowed to exercise their franchise. On Monday, Kejriwal had also threatened to launch a “movement” if the BJP swept the elections, as predicted by exit polls.

Besides the three major contenders, the Janata Dal (United), former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav’s Swaraj India, Shiv Sena and Bahujan Samaj Party had also fielded candidates. Polling in two wards – Maujpur in East Delhi and Sarai Pipal in North Delhi – was postponed after the death of two candidates.

The exit polls on Monday had predicted that the BJP would win 220 of the 270 seats. They also forecast a complete rout for the AAP. Swaraj India’s Yogendra Yadav had said earlier that the Delhi civic elections would be a referendum on the Kejriwal government.

Like AAP, the Congress had also debunked the exit poll predictions, which had said the party will bag only around 31 seats. Congress leaders claimed it will be a close fight with the BJP.

The BJP, on the other hand, is confident of a landslide victory. “I never saw such public support for a party in my life. We are expecting a landslide victory,” said the party’s Delhi unit president Manoj Tiwari.