Delhi Will Become World-Class City If AAP Wins Civic Polls: Durgesh Pathak

The Aam Aadmi Party will focus on making Delhi clean and a world-class city if it comes to power in the municipal polls due next year, party leader Durgesh Pathak said.

Having won the municipal corporation bypolls, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party is now focusing on consolidating its position in the civic bodies.

Durgesh Pathak, who is the party's in-charge of municipal corporations, said there is a feeling on the ground that the Arvind Kejriwal government must be given an opportunity in municipal corporations.

The municipal corporation polls of Delhi are due in 2022.

On the party's vision for the municipal corporation, Durgesh Pathak said the first thing they will do is to clean Delhi if they win the polls.

"The main work of the municipal corporation is to keep Delhi clean but the national capital is so dirty under the BJP. So the first thing we will do is to clean Delhi. Local bodies play a very important role in implementing policies so if the AAP government comes we will succeed in making Delhi a world-class city," he said.

He said the party will reduce corruption in municipal corporations.

Talking about the bypoll results, Durgesh Pathak said the AAP won the bypolls in the strongholds of the BJP, and in other seats too, the AAP's margin has increased.

"So the feeling we are getting on the ground is that Arvind Kejriwal must be given an opportunity in municipal corporations too," Durgesh Pathak told PTI in an interview.

The AAP swept the bypolls, winning four out of the five wards where elections were held on February 28.

Speaking about the factors that worked for the AAP, Durgesh Pathak said there is anti-incumbency and at the same time people are impressed by the AAP's work.

"Looking at the work done by the AAP government in various sectors like health and education, people believe that if the AAP government comes in municipal corporations then Delhi's development will happen," he said.

Speaking on the AAP's loss on one seat of Chauhan Bangar in the bypolls which used to be its stronghold, Durgesh Pathak said in by-elections, local factors also play an important role.

Congress leader Chaudhary Mateen, whose son fought from Chauhan Bangar ward, has an influence in the area.

Moreover, Chaudhary Mateen had lost many polls earlier which might have led people to sympathise with his son Chaudhary Zubair Ahmad.

"Congress lost its deposit on the rest of the seats. I am very confident that next time AAP will win from Chauhan Bangar also," he said.

The Congress wrested the Chauhan Bangar ward from the AAP by a huge margin of over 10,000 votes.

Durgesh Pathak said people trust the AAP's governance model and they will oust the BJP government in the upcoming polls.

The BJP has been ruling the municipal corporations since 2007. In the 2017 MCD polls, the party won 184 of the total 272 wards in three municipal corporations.