New Delhi, March 3 After losing the ground in the recent Gujarat local body and municipal corporation elections, the Congress found a "ray of hope" with its victory in one of the five seats in the MCD bypolls as results were declared earlier on Wednesday, boosting the party to prepare its strategy for the election on all 272 wards next year.

The AAP put on a good show in the five bye-elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Wednesday, winning four seats including Kalyanpuri, Rohini-C, Shalimar Bagh (North), and Trilokpuri. The Congress won the Chauhan Banger ward. In the last polls, AAP had won four seats while one seat was held by the BJP.

Congress candidate Chaudhary Zubair Ahmad defeated AAP candidate Mohammad Ishraq Khan by 10,642 votes in Chauhan Bangar ward.

The victory as per the Congress leaders is a "ray of hope" as its candidate at Chauhan Bangar area registered an impressive win defeating the AAP candidate by more than 10,000 votes.

Reacting on the results, Shakti Singh Gohil, in-charge of Delhi for the Congress, said, "This is the victory of the people of Delhi and the hard work of Congress workers."

Asked about the grand old party's defeat in other fives wards in Delhi, the Congress says it will "assess" the loopholes but made it clear that people in the national capital have shown their attraction towards the party and voted against the anti-people policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

While the Congress insiders say that the AAP was wiped out due to the erosion of minority votes in Chauhan Bangar, the party's future plan is to work hard to gain confidence of others in Delhi before the elections to all 272 MCD wards in 2022.

The MDC polls were conducted last Sunday in two wards -- Rohini-C and Shalimar Bagh (North) -- in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), and three wards-- Trilokpuri, Kalyanpuri and Chauhan Banger -- in the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).

While Shalimar Bagh (North) is reserved for women, Trilokpuri and Kalyanpuri are reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) category. The voter turnout recorded was 50.86 per cent.

Of the five wards, four were held by the AAP councillors who went on to become MLAs on party tickets. Shalimar Bagh North had a BJP councillor.

MCD polls result gives hope for Congress