New Delhi ;In a crucial mid-term electoral test, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday emerged as the clear winner in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) by-polls, securing seven of the 12 wards that went to vote. The contest—seen as a barometer of political mood in the national capital—comes just months after the party’s sweeping triumph in the February Assembly election.
The by-polls were necessitated due to a mix of factors, including resignations, deaths of sitting councillors, and disqualification-related vacancies. These scattered vacancies provided the first micro-level electoral snapshot of Delhi’s shifting political landscape since the dramatic 2024–25 churn that ended the Aam Aadmi Party’s decade-long municipal and state dominance.
The AAP finished second with three seats—an outcome that, while modest, allows the party to claim that it has held ground without further erosion. The Congress, still struggling to rediscover relevance in Delhi politics, pulled off a symbolic victory by winning one ward—its first electoral gain this year after suffering a complete rout in both the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. The remaining seat went to the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), delivering a rare upset in local politics.
Despite topping the tally, the BJP entered the contest defending nine seats and ended up losing two—one each to the Congress and AIFB. However, the party compensated by wresting Chandni Chowk from the AAP; BJP candidate Suman Gupta scored a comfortable win in this high-visibility ward. The AAP, in turn, snatched Naraina from the BJP, reflecting pockets of resilience in its traditional urban support base.
The seat changes, however, do not alter the power equations inside the MCD House. The BJP continues to command a comfortable majority with 122 councillors, followed by AAP’s 102. The Congress now climbs to nine seats—still far from its historic influence but enough to spark conversations about a tentative revival.
Politically, the contest carried added significance as it marked the first electoral test for Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who has been steering the BJP government in Delhi for ten months. Her camp is expected to project the results as validation of her governance and organisational control.
For AAP, this was equally crucial—a debut evaluation for Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bhardwaj. While the party could not expand its footprint, it will highlight the fact that it did not lose any of its existing seats in a hostile political climate.
For the Congress, the by-poll outcome offers a sliver of optimism after its steep decline earlier this year—a reminder that while diminished, the party has not been entirely erased from Delhi’s political narrative.
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