BJP seizes AAP’S seat in Delhi
Congress takes second spot as Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s candidate loses security deposit days before MCD elections later this month
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday snatched the Rajouri Garden assembly seat in Delhi, handing a humiliating defeat to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which finished a distant third behind Congress and even lost t security deposit.
The result holds significance as it comes ten days before the city’s electorate exercises its franchise again to choose councillors across three municipal corporations. The BJP is in power in the three MCDS for the past decade and Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is looking to wrest power from the saffron party, banking on its performance over the past two years.
The setback also came weeks after the party was decimated in the Punjab assembly polls despite being billed as a favourite to win. Manjinder Singh Sirsa, a former SAD legislator who contested on a BJP symbol in the April 9 bypolls, bagged 40,602 votes, garnering over 50 per cent of the total votes.
Congress’ Meenakshi Chandela finished second with 25,950 votes while AAP’S Harjeet Singh managed only 10,243 votes, less than one-sixth of the total votes polled, and lost his deposit in this Sikh and Punjabi-dominated west Delhi assembly seat.
Of the over 1.6 lakh electors in Rajouri Garden, 78091 voters had cast their vote on April 9.
Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia attributed the defeat to the anger of people over its sitting legislator Jarnail Singh quitting the seat to contest the Punjab polls, which had necessitated the by-election.
“There was anger among people after Jarnail went to Punjab. We tried convincing them, but with the results we are realising that people were not convinced and remained upset,” he told reporters, adding that the verdict won’t have any impact on the municipal elections.
The Delhi BJP was quick to demand Kejriwal’s resignation on “moral grounds” and said this was the “beginning of the end” of the AAP in the national capital.
“Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal should give his resignation on moral ground as his party has completely been rejected by people in this election,” west Delhi MP Pravesh Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma said at a press conference.
For the AAP, the slide in vote share in the constituency has been steep, from 47% in 2015 to 13% this time, while the BJP’S share has increased from 38% in 2015 to 52% in 2017.