Campaigns for November 30 MCD byelections gain momentum

Campaigning for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) bypolls has gained momentum, with senior leaders from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as the Opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress holding rallies and leading door-to-door drives in the 12 poll-bound wards.

Fifty-one candidates — 26 of them women — are in the fray for the vacant seats, which will go to the polls on November 30, nearly nine months after the Assembly election. Votes will be counted on December 3.

While the ruling party is reaching out to the public with a list of the Delhi government’s achievements in sanitation, public health and civic infrastructure, the Opposition parties have built their campaigns around the “hardship” caused by the government’s demolition drives and its “failure” in curbing air and water pollution.

‘Vote before lunch’

Addressing party workers and booth managers for the candidates in Naraina and Chandni Chowk, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva on Monday (November 17, 2025) said workers must ensure that people “vote before lunch” on polling day.

“We won Naraina even in adverse circumstances in 2022 [civic polls], and narrowly lost in Chandni Chowk. Today, the voter regrets their decision. We will win both wards again,” Mr. Sachdeva said.

Speaking to supporters in Shalimar Bagh, Delhi BJP general secretary (Organisation) Pawan Rana said the upcoming bypolls are an “opportunity for our workers to prepare for the next MCD election in 2027. We must repeat the success of the 2024 Lok Sabha and 2025 Assembly elections”.

A day earlier, while speaking at a rally in support of a BJP candidate in south-west Delhi’s Najafgarh, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta had said, “You have supported your MP and MLA with an overwhelming majority. Now is the time to send an even stronger message by ensuring a decisive victory for your ward candidate, reaffirming that Najafgarh is united on the path of development.”

Demolition drives

In its public outreach, the AAP has been highlighting what it calls the BJP’s “hooliganism” in the rural belt and unauthorised colonies.

Addressing a meeting in Pochanpur village on Sunday (November 16, 2025) in support of party’s Dwarka (B) ward candidate Rajbala Sehrawat, AAP’s Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “They [BJP] file complaints themselves, send in the bulldozers and then extort huge sums of money from people. The people of Delhi believed that the BJP would solve their problems, but the party has done nothing for them.”

Mr. Bharadwaj later told The Hindu that the party is confident of a good showing on November 30 owing to the strong local presence of its candidates. “All our candidates have a strong presence in their respective areas and enjoy the trust of the people. We are confident that our loyal workers will ensure our success in these by-elections,” he said.

Sarita Kumari, the Congress’s candidate from Shalimar Bagh (B) ward, which was once represented by Ms. Gupta, the current Chief Minister, said, “We are covering 200-250 houses every day with our supporters. We have promised reform and better living conditions for the public.” She said broken drains, roads full of potholes and the constant fear of demolitions at slum clusters are the key issues affecting voters.

Prestige battle

While the outcome of the bypolls will not affect the overall majority in the MCD House, where the BJP enjoys a majority, AAP and Congress will hope to bounce back after their poor showing in the February 5 Delhi election, even as the ruling party will aim at maintaining its dominance in the national capital.

In the December 2022 polls, the AAP had emerged victorious in the 250-member House with 134 seats, followed by the BJP (104) and the Congress (9). Three seats were won by Independent candidates. Following a prolonged phase of defections and intra-party tussles, which included an AAP councillor breaking away to form the Indraprastha Vikas Party (IVP), the BJP secured a majority earlier this year. It now has 116 councillors. AAP is now the second-largest party with 98 seats, followed by the IVP at 15, the Congress at eight, and one Independent councillor in the truncated 238-member House.