Denying tickets to sitting councillors worked well for BJP

New Delhi, April 26 : The BJP's decision to deny tickets to its sitting councillors proved a master stroke for the party, which swept the Delhi civic polls on Wednesday for the third time in a row.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Delhi unit President Manoj Tiwari took the risk of fielding fresh faces in the civic polls despite stiff opposition from party leaders.

Just before the April 23 polls, Tiwari made it clear that the sitting councillors were being denied tickets over non-performance. 

Tiwari told IANS that the decision was "not taken like a dictator" but was based on the performance of the councillors.

"It's not that they were involved in corruption but their performance could have been better. Like, instead of one medical college (in the city), they should have tried to set up five," he said.

"Instead of 216 schools, they should have built 500. So, I found that their performance was not up to the mark. We decided to give a chance to new faces and bring a new batch of leaders into the party," he said.

Tiwari even faced party rebellion after the decision but succeeded in pacifying most with the help of the central leadership.

He also said that the idea of bringing in new faces came after viewing the working style of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah. 

"I put my foot down and implemented the decision despite facing stiff resistance from the sitting councillors," he said.

Soon after the MCD poll results were announced, former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Modi pointed out that Modi's strategy helped the party win the civic polls.

As Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi had made it a practice of dropping sitting candidates in assembly and civic elections to fight anti-incumbency. Modi used the tactic in 2002, 2007 and 2012 assembly elections. 

In 2012 Gujarat assembly elections, the BJP dropped over 40 per cent of its sitting legislators and opted for new candidates.