Ahead of the high-stake Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls that is being seen as a barometer of power among political parties, an opinion poll conducted by ABP News-CVoter has revealed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will be in a neck-to-neck fight to win the mandate of the people of Delhi.

This would be the first election to the municipal corporation since the reunification of the Municipal Corporation in May 2022.

Following the passage of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, earlier this year, the wards and councilor positions in MCD were reduced from 272 to 250 out of which 42 seats are reserved for SC.

The survey showed that the BJP is predicted to win a vote share of 41.5 percent and they are likely to get 118-138 seats. However, AAP is a close second and is predicted to win 104-124 seats with a vote share of 40.0 percent. The Congress, considered to be the distant third, is likely to win a vote share of 16.5 percent and is predicted to win 4-12 seats. Others are likely to get a vote share of 2.0 percent and get 0-4 seats.

Additionally, ABP News-CVoter conducted a snap poll and one of the questions posed to the voters was, according to them, what is the biggest issue in the MCD elections? In response to the question, 12.9 percent respondents identified electricity and water as the biggest issue, 23.3% respondents considered pollution, 20.0 percent respondents considered cleanliness, 13.3 percent respondents identified corruption, 23.8 percent respondents identified inflation while 6.7 percent respondents considered safety and security as the biggest challenge.

Another question posed to the voters was who according to them is responsible for the Yamuna river not being cleaned in Delhi? To this, 57.8 percent of respondents held the Delhi Government responsible for the same while 42.2 percent of respondents blamed the MCD.

The third question posed to the voters was whether they think AAP will suffer in the MCD elections that are being held amid the pollution problem in Delhi. In response to this, 60.3 percent of respondents considered it to be a potential challenge for Kejriwal while 39.7 percent of respondents did not think that holding MCD elections amid pollution issues in Delhi will be a challenge for him.

The MCD election is scheduled for December 4 and the result would be declared on December 7. The much-awaited polls will decide the fate of 250 wards.