Maken, Chacko resign as Congress finishes third in Delhi civic polls

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Apr 26, 2017 : Delhi Congress President Ajay Maken and senior leader P C Chacko on Wednesday announced their resignations as the party slumped to a poor third position in the civic elections.

 

Chacko and Maken announced that they have sent their resignations to the party leadership accepting moral responsibility for the defeat in the elections to the three municipal corporations in Delhi. Chacko was AICC in-charge of the Delhi unit of the Congress.

“I want to set an example, I will work as an ordinary worker,” said Maken, who was accused by several party leaders, including his one-time mentor former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, of high-handedness in managing the elections.

Maken tried to seek solace in the increase in vote share of the Congress in comparison with the 2015 Delhi assembly elections when the party had failed to open its account.

The Congress had polled 9.70% votes of the total votes cast in the assembly elections. In the civic elections, it had polled 21.20%, an increase of 11.50% over the assembly election figures.

In the previous civic body elections in 2012, Congress had polled 30.54% of the total votes cast and Wednesday’s results indicate a 9% fall in vote share.

Dikshit, a three-term chief minister, said the she was not invited to the election campaign ny Maken, a grouse few other leaders also shared. Former minister A K Walia had threatened to resign over issues related to ticket distribution, while Maken’s predecessor Arvinder Singh Lovely joined the BJP days before the elections.

Congress refused to join the Aam Aadmi Party in blaming the electronic voting machines for their electoral loss.

Dikshit and former Delhi minister Kiran Walia acknowledged that their was a Modi wave that helped the BJP win elections convincingly.

Courtesy:DHNS