STATE TIMES NEWS
New Delhi: The BJP will form its government in Delhi after a gap of more than 26 years as it won 48 of the 70 seats in the Assembly polls, the results of which were announced on Saturday, while the AAP secured victories from 22 seats and the Congress drew a blank for a third straight time.
AAP candidate from Matia Mahal Aaley Mohammad Iqbal registered the highest victory margin of 42,724 votes in the polls, defeating BJP’s Deepti Indora, according to the Election Commission’s (EC) data.
BJP’s Chandan Kumar Choudhary won the Sangam Vihar seat by the lowest margin of 344 votes.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) vote share was 45.56 per cent, while the AAP secured 43.57 per cent votes and the Congress’s poll percentage was 6.34.
In the 2020 Delhi Assembly polls, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) got a 53.57-per cent vote share and bagged 62 seats. Despite a 38.51-per cent vote share, the BJP could win just eight of the 70 seats.
In the 1993 Assembly polls, the BJP won 49 seats in Delhi, while the Congress got 14 and the Janata Dal four. Three independent candidates had also secured victories in that election.
The BJP will form its “double-engine” government in the capital as there is a party-led government at the Centre.
BJP’s Parvesh Verma and Tarvinder Singh Marwah emerged as the biggest giant-slayers, defeating AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia from the New Delhi and Jangpura constituencies respectively.
In a fierce contest in the New Delhi seat, Verma secured 30,088 votes, while Kejriwal trailed behind with 25,999 votes. Congress’s Sandeep Dikshit finished a distant third with 4,568 votes.
In another major upset, Marwah defeated Sisodia from Jangpura by a narrow margin of 675 votes. Marwah polled 38,859 votes, while Sisodia secured 38,184 votes. Congress candidate Farhad Suri garnered 7,350 votes.
Amid the BJP’s sweeping victory, Chief Minister Atishi and three ministers in the outgoing AAP government — Gopal Rai, Mukesh Ahlawat and Imran Hussain — managed to secure wins.
Atishi emerged victorious in Kalkaji, defeating BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri by a margin of 3,521 votes. Rai retained the Babarpur seat with a margin of 18,994 votes against BJP’s Anil Kumar Vashisht.
Hussain, the food and civil supplies minister, won from Ballimaran with the highest margin among the AAP’s prominent faces, defeating BJP’s Kamal Bagri by 29,823 votes. Hussain’s victory provided one of the few bright spots for the AAP in the Old Delhi region.
Outgoing health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj was defeated by BJP’s Shikha Roy by a margin of 3,188 votes from Greater Kailash.
BJP’s Mohan Singh Bisht won the Mustafabad seat by 17,578 votes, while his colleague Kapil Mishra secured victory in Karawal Nagar with a margin of 23,355 votes. AAP’s Sanjeev Jha won the Burari seat by a margin of 20,601 votes.
BJP leader Raj Kumar Chauhan, who shifted to the saffron party from the Congress, bagged the Mangol Puri seat by a victory margin of 6,255 votes.
AAP’s Virender Singh Kadian won the Delhi Cantonment seat by 2,029 votes, while his party colleague Kuldeep Kumar defeated his closest rival by a margin of 6,293 votes in Kondli.
BJP’s Ravinder Singh Negi won the Patparganj seat by a margin of 28,072 votes, defeating poll debutant Avadh Ojha, who was fielded by the AAP after replacing Sisodia, who had represented the seat in the Assembly for three consecutive terms.
AAP’s Sahi Ram won the Tughlakabad seat by 14,711 votes. Ahlawat won from Sultanpur Majra by 17,126 votes, while AAP’s Jarnail Singh secured victory from Tilak Nagar by a margin of 11,656 votes.
BJP’s Rekha Gupta won the Shalimar Bagh seat, defeating her AAP rival by 29,595 votes, while the saffron party’s Manjinder Singh Sirsa emerged victorious from Rajouri Garden by 18,190 votes.
While the AAP dominated Delhi’s political landscape for the last 10 years, the BJP was out of power in the city since 1998.
The Congress, which ruled the capital from 1998 to 2013 and was hoping for a resurgence, finished third.
Coming days after the Union budget which gave crucial tax concessions to the middle class, the BJP’s winning Lok Sabha streak in Delhi continues after it won all seven seats last year. But the premise this time was different.
Ground level issues such as water, drainage and garbage went up against volatile campaigns by both parties with voters grimly evaluating their quality of life in a polluted city.
The BJP also pushed ahead and made ‘sheesh mahal’ an oft recalled buzzword for the lavish chief minister’s residence following the renovations by Kejriwal and allegations of corruption in the Delhi excise policy. It clearly hit home.
While Modi and other party leaders repeated the need for a ‘double engine’ government, freebies offered by the AAP were countered by “Modi’s guarantee,” which appeared to find favour with voters.
The AAP, which saw its leaders Kejriwal and Sisodia jailed in the excise policy case, countered the BJP campaign with vigour to say Yamuna waters were poisoned and that it was just not being allowed to govern because every move was being stymied by the lieutenant governor. It didn’t find the resonance it had hoped for.
“We fought a good election… We will play role of constructive opposition but will also be available to people of Delhi,” Kejriwal said as he conceded defeat in an election he had hoped would propel him as a national leader.
For the AAP national convenor, the face of the party launched on an anti-corruption plank in 2012, it was a tantalising seesaw ending in despair. He lost by 4,089 votes to BJP’s Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, son of former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma.
“Who will be chief minister will be decided by the central leadership,” said Verma, dubbed giant killer for defeating Kejriwal in New Delhi constituency. The BJP had not projected a CM face in the poll campaign.
As one more line was added to the Congress’ epitaph, the AAP struggled with its own existential crisis. A loss in Delhi, which it ruled for 10 successive years from 2015, signals an end to its national ambitions with now only Punjab in its pocket.
Chief Minister Atishi, who took over after Kejriwal stepped down last year when he was jailed, won by 3,521 votes against BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri.
“I have won my seat but this is not a time for celebration — this is the time to fight. The battle against BJP’s authoritarianism will continue,” she said.
It was a dramatic downslide for the AAP, which won 67 of the 70 seats in 2015 when it established its dominance by wiping out both the Congress and the BJP and 62 in 2020. The promise of mohalla clinics, model schools, free water and electricity seemed to have lost their sheen.
At BJP offices, there were drumbeats of victory and euphoria, party workers waving flags, holding lotus cutouts, dancing and smearing colours of celebration on each other. And Modi was the mantra.
The Congress headquarters wore a desolate look and workers at the AAP office shell-shocked, their leaders huddled in conference as they pondered the future.
The BJP ruled Delhi between 1993 and 1998 when the party had three chief ministers–Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj.
In the run up to the Delhi elections, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) went all out to persuade voters elect an “effective and accountable” government for the progress of the national capital, contributing to the BJP’s thumping victory.
RSS volunteers carried out a silent voter awareness campaign and held “thousands of drawing room meetings” across Delhi to discuss “pressing” public issues like lack of required cleanliness, potable water supply, inadequate healthcare services, air pollution and cleaning of Yamuna river, according to sources.