Sheila says the party wasn’t aggressive in its campaign

Whoever loses (the elections) says the EVMs are faulty, those who win say they are okay. The Congress should have campaigned aggressively (for Delhi civic body polls).

Former chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday said the Congress should have campaigned aggressively to challenge the BJP, which appeared poised to retain control of Delhi’s civic bodies despite facing 10 years of anti-incumbency.

“Aggressive campaign karna chahiye tha (the party should have campaigned aggressively),” she was quoted as saying by a news agency.

She also appeared to be alleging that the party refused to seek her help in campaigning for the April 23 polls, the results of which were declared on Wednesday. “Maine campaign nahi kiya kyunki kisi ne mujhe kaha hi nahi (I did not campaign, because no one asked me to),” she added.

The Congress was trailing in the third place as the results poured in from the three municipal corporations, with the BJP leading by a huge margin of seats.

Dikshit, a senior Congress leader, was a three-time chief minister of Delhi before she was ousted in 2014 when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) formed the government for the first time.

Diskhit also took a veiled dig at the AAP for blaming “faulty EVMs” for its poor show.

She said the Election Commission and the AAP government should have sat down and cleared their doubts over the EVMs.

“...Jo haarta hai vo kehta hai EVM kharab hai, jo jeet ta hai vo kehta hai theek hai (Whoever looses says the EVMs are faulty, those who wins says they are ok),” she added.