The Bharatiya Janata Party won a historic mandate in Delhi polls on Saturday, returning to power in the national capital after 27 years by ousting Aam Aadmi Party with several AAP leaders including former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal losing from their strongholds.
The verdict came months after BJP-led coalition swept Maharashtra polls and the party won Haryana, consolidating its domination of national politics.
The Congress, which was hoping for its revival in the national captial, again failed to win any seat. The party, which ruled Delhi for 15 years from 1998, registered a hat-trick zero tally in assembly polls.
BJP has won 45 of 70 seats in Delhi and is leading on three. AAP has won 21 and is leading on one seat.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded BJP’s victory and said it was triumph of “good governance” of the party at Centre and in states it is in power. He said the party will leave no stone unturned in developing Delhi and improving the overall quality of life for the people.
“Jana Shakti is paramount! Development wins, good governance triumphs. I bow to my dear sisters and brothers of Delhi for this resounding and historic mandate to @BJP4India. We are humbled and honoured to receive these blessings. It is our guarantee that we will leave no stone unturned in developing Delhi, improving the overall quality of life for the people and ensuring that Delhi has a prime role to play in building a Viksit Bharat,” he said in a post on X.
“I am so proud of each and every @BJP4India Karyakarta, who has worked very hard, leading to this outstanding result. We will work even more vigorously and serve the wonderful people of Delhi,” he added.
Apart from Kejriwal, several senior AAP leaders lost the polls including former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Delhi Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj, former ministers Somnath Bharti and Satyendra Jain and party leaders Awadh Ojha and Durgesh Pathak. Chief Minister Atishi won from Kalkaji.
Kejriwal accepted the people’s mandate and congratulated BJP on its victory.
“We accept the mandate of the people with great humility. I congratulate the BJP for this victory and I hope they will fulfil all the promises for which people have voted for them,” Kejriwal said in a video posted on X.
“We have done a lot of work in the field of health, education, infrastructure in the last 10 years. We will not only play the role of a constructive opposition but will also remain among the people and continue to serve them. We did not come into politics for the sake of power, we considered politics as a medium through which the people can be served,” he added.
The results were largely in accordance with prediction of exit polls, which had predicted a BJP victory.
In New Delhi seat, BJP’s Parvesh Verma defeated Kejriwal by over 4,000 votes. Congress candidate Sandeep Dikshit got 4,568 votes. Atishi defeated BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri by over 3,500 votes in Kalkaji. Alka Lamba of Congress got 4,392 votes.
“I thank the people of Kalkaji for showing trust in me. I congratulate my team who worked against ‘baahubal’…We accept the people’s mandate. I have won but it’s not a time to celebrate but continue the ‘war’ against the BJP,” Atishi told reporters.
Sisodia lost from Jangpura to BJP’s Tarvinder Singh Marwah by a narrow margin of 675 votes.
Conceding defeat, he said he hopes the winning candidate (Tarvinder Singh Marwah) works for the constituency.
Atishi expressed gratitude to people for expressing support.
Gopal Rai won the Babarpur assembly seat by a margin of 18,994 votes. He defeated BJP’s Anil Kumar Vashisht.
Kailash Gahlot, who left AAP to join BJP months ahead of the polls, won from Bijwasan assembly constituency. He defeated AAP’s Surender Bhardwaj with a comfortable margin.
Some other prominent winners of BJP included Vijender Gupta from Rohini, Kapil Mishra from Karawal Nagar and Ravinder Singh Negi from Patparganj.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah expressed gratitude to the people of Delhi for giving the mandate to BJP.
“Delhi ke Dil mein Modi (Modi in the heart of Delhi). This is a victory of ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ and the faith of Delhiites in Modi ji’s vision of development. Heartfelt gratitude to the people of Delhi for this massive mandate. Under the leadership of Modiji, BJP is determined to fulfil all its promises and make Delhi the number-1 capital of the world,” Amit Shah said.
“People have responded to the dirty Yamuna, dirty drinking water, broken roads, overflowing sewers and liquor shops open in every street with their votes. I heartily congratulate all the workers of BJP Delhi who worked day and night for this grand victory in Delhi,” he added.
Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal launched a scathing attack at AAP, stating that that god “punishes” those who commit crime against women.
Maliwal’s remarks are a veiled reference to the assault case, wherein she alleged AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal’s personal aide, Bibhav Kumar of ‘assaulting’ her at the then CM’s residence.
AAP swept the polls in the last two assembly polls. It won 62 out of the 70 seats in 2020 and got 67 seats in 2015.
The counting votes was taken up on Saturday morning. Votes were polled on February 5.
(With inputs from ANI)
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