New Delhi: If surveys are to be believed, the Aam Aadmi Party is all set to return to power in the national capital where polls to all 70 Assembly seats will be held on Saturday. But if one goes by grandstanding, then the BJP appears set to usher in a new chapter in Delhi and forming the city-state’s government on its own after 22 years.
Two surveys, one rele-ased on Wednesday and another earlier on Mon-day, clearly suggest that the AAP will not be able to retain all 67 seats it won in the 2015 elections, but will be able to form the government on its own. They give 10 to 14 seats to the BJP. But home minister Amit Shah has claimed his party will be winning more than 45 seats. The saffron party won in just three constituencies in 2015, where the Congress couldn’t retain one seat.
According to the ABP News-CVoter survey, Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP is predicted to win 42 to 56 seats. The IPSOS-Times Now survey, based on a sample size of 7,321 voters, says the AAP is likely to get anything between 54 and 60 seats, the BJP 10 to 14 seats, while the Congress may draw a blank or win, at best, two seats. Tight security measures were put in place, especially sensitive areas like Shaheen Bagh, for peaceful polling in which Delhi’s 1.47 crore voters will decide if Mr Kejriwal gets another term as chief minister for the development work done and promised, or the BJP, which campaigned on the “anti-Shaheen Bagh” nationalism pitch, will get a chance at power.
Manish Sisodia OSD held for graft
The CBI has arrested Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s OSD (Officer on Special Duty), Gopal Krishna Madhav, on the basis of information provided by a middleman who allegedly collected bribes from tran-sporters on his behalf, officials said on Friday.
The arrest of Madhav was made by the agency in an operation on Thursday evening, ahead of the crucial Delhi elections, after middleman Dheeraj Gupta, nabbed on Febr-uary 5, claimed he was collecting money on behalf of the officer.
Sources said that the agency has not found Mr Sisodia’s involvement in the case so far.
“CBI has arrested Dheeraj Gupta, who is a resident of Delhi, and Gopal Krishna Madhav, the GST officer in trade and taxes department of government of NCT Delhi, who is also the OSD to deputy CM of Delhi, in a bribery case of `2.26 lakh,” a CBI spokesperson said.
During the questioning, Gupta claimed that he was collecting the bribe for Madhav, a Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Island civil service officer in trade and tax department, officials said.
“It was alleged that the private person (Gupta) was acting as a middleman on behalf of some GST department officers, including for the public servant (Madhav), for collecting illegal gratification from transporters for not charging GST from them,” the spokesperson said. Madhav was immediately taken to the headquarters where he was questioned in detail by the CBI officers, officials said.
Gupta has been sent to judicial custody by a special court while Madhav will be produced before court on Friday, they said.
