Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra joined several AAP members in calling for introspection over the party's rout in the MCD polls, saying the loss cannot be blamed only on EVMs even as the party leadership alleged "rigging" of voting machines. "This is the time to introspect why we had to see this day after two years. Whether it a Modi wave or not, it has become clear that people have not voted for us. Today's reality is we have got very few seats in comparison to the massive mandate we got in 2015. The results cannot be viewed only by blaming the EVMs," Mishra said.

He also admitted that looking at poll results, a "BJP wave" exists in Delhi. Interestingly, senior AAP leader and Labour Minister Gopal Rai had said there is "no Modi wave", but an "EVM wave," alleging tampering of electronic voting machines. Several volunteers, the backbone of the party, are also refusing to buy the claims made by the leadership.

An MLA from Central Delhi echoed the minister's sentiments. "The reasons are shocking as we did not expect to do so badly. Although the party blames EVMs for the defeat and we need to look into the reasons behind the loss, my view is different. But I shall toe the party line on this," the MLA said.

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In Punjab, party MP Bhagwant Mann said there was no use in finding fault with EVMs and the party should introspect on the reasons behind its defeat in the recent Assembly polls.He also slammed the leadership for "behaving like a 'mohalla' (local) cricket team," and said AAP had committed a "historic blunder" in Punjab with regard to the overall electoral strategy.AAP Punjab state convener Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi also endorsed Mann's remarks.

After the party won only 20 seats in Punjab, Kejriwal had alleged tampering of EVMs in the polls.Reacting to Mann's position on EVMs, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the party would introspect on reasons behind its defeat, but that it does not mean EVMs were not tampered with.

"Looking at the situation, it seems that there is an EVM wave in Delhi," Sisodia said. "There is no reason why people should vote for the BJP (in the MCD polls). We will analyse the reasons behind our defeat. We would have understood had there been a difference of 2-4 seats, but the margin between the two parties can only happen by rigging the EVMs," Sisodia said.

BJP streamrolls all opposition

Steamrolling all opposition the today swept the MCD polls, trouncing the Aam Aadmi Party that rules Delhi, and decimating the Congress, in an election which was billed as a referendum on the Arvind Kejriwal government.Delhi's overwhelming rejection of the AAP came barely two years into its meteoric rise in the 2015 Assembly polls when it had clinched an unprecedented 67 of the 70 seats.Today, it was left with just 48 wards in its kitty out of the 272 spread across the three municipal corporations in the national capital.After its abysmal performance in the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls when it could manage to win just three seats, the BJP added muscle to its decade-long domination of the corporations effortlessly bucking anti-incumbency, with the electorate giving a thumbs up to its gamble of fielding all fresh faces.

The results are being seen as a ringing endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies and a reflection of his unmatched popularity.Taking forward its stupendous electoral successes in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the BJP won 181 seats, putting paid to Congress' hopes of a revival in the national capital which it ruled uninterruptedly for 15 years between 1998 and 2013. Congress could win just 30 seats.

The BJP's corporation-wise tally is: SDMC - 70, NDMC - 64 and EDMC - 47 as against AAP's 16, 21 and 11 and Congress' 12, 15 and 3 wards. AAP's abject defeat, which came close on the heels of its abysmal performance in the Assembly polls in Goa, where it failed to open account, and poorer than expected show in Punjab, does not portend well for the party which is bracing itself for a bigger battle in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home turf Gujarat. Assembly election is Gujarat is due later this year.

As the AAP hit a political low after successive jolts in the Punjab and Goa Assembly polls, and the Rajouri Garden Assembly bypoll here, there were murmurs of discontent in the party.

Its Delhi convenor Dilip Pandey resigned while Chandni Chowk MLA Alka Lamba offered to step down owing responsibility for the debacle, pointing towards an impending churning in the party. Delhi's Water Resources Minister Kapil Mishra, a popular face, called for "introspection" instead of raking up the issue of alleged manipulation of EVMs. Modi expressed his gratitude to the people of Delhi for reposing faith in the BJP and ensuring its resounding victory.

"I laud the hardwork of team @BJP4Delhi which made the resounding MCD win possible," he tweeted. In his first reaction, Kejriwal promised all cooperation to the civic bodies and refrained from commenting on EVMs, the "manipulation" of which he had identified as the reason behind AAP's string of poll upsets.

"I congratulate BJP on their victory in all 3 MCDs. My govt looks forward to working wid MCDs for the betterment of Delhi," Kejriwal, who went into a huddle with top leaders of the AAP as the results trickled in early in the day, tweeted.

The Congress, which was hoping to bounce back in Delhi, has also been consigned to political wilderness, at least for the time being. Ajay Maken, who steered the party's Delhi unit over the last two years, resigned.

The grand old party did increase its vote share from 9.7 per cent in the 2015 assembly polls to 21.2 per cent in the civic elections, but the scale of the defeat overshadowed whatever little gains it made.In the 2012 municipal polls, BJP had garnered 36.74 per cent vote share and the Congress 30.50 per cent. The AAP was yet to make its electoral debut then.

The opposition called it a "referendum" on the Kejriwal government and demanded that the CM resign. Experts credited the BJP's landslide victory to the "Modi wave", while the AAP's debacle was described as the bursting of a political bubble.

Sanjay Kumar, Director of the Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), was of the view that the AAP's defeat will "reduce its chances of survival". The way the AAP has been routed, its chances of survival have been reduced. Parties contest elections all the time, they win and they lose as well, it should not be too worrisome for them. But, the AAP's case is different," he said.