The BJP on Saturday staged a thumping return to power in Delhi after 27 years. A deft mix of astute planning, imaginative ticket distribution and boister- ous campaigning enabled it to sweep the ruling Aam Aadmi Party out of power, by securing 47 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly.
The AAP, which had formed three governments in Delhi since 2013, won only 23 seats as several of its prominent leaders, including former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy CM Manish Sisodia and a number of ministers lost. However, CM Atishi managed to refain her seat.
Incidentally, both Kejriwal and Sisodia had faced the ig- nominy of being jailed in the Delhi liquor policy case. The AAPwasalso battling 10years of anti-incumbency, dogged by corruption allegations and charges of misgovernance. It had also not covered itself with glory by making false promises — especially about cleaning of the Yamuna and improving Delhi’s roads and infrastructure.
The entire BIP top leadership had gone hammer and tongs after AAP and PM Modi had even coined the word “Aap-da” (disaster in Hindi) for it. Similarly, the saffron party had cam- paigned hard around the issue of Kejriwal spending crores on
the renovation of his official bungalow which was given the title of “Sheesh Mahal”. The BJP had also used images from the bungalow to showcase how Kejriwal had indulged himself by spending an obsceneamount on the interiors.
Besides the relentless attacks from its two main opponents, the other factors which played out in AAP’s defeat were the involvement of the Sangh in the BJP campaign and the manner in which the Election Commis- sion went about rationalizing the voters list. Though the BIP won nearly two-thirds of the seats, it bagged only 46.3 per cent of the vote and was only margin- ally ahead of AAP’s 43.5 per cent. The Congress, which did not win any seat, was able to improve its vote share slightly from 4.2 per centin 202010 6.3 per cent this time.
However, the masterstroke was the damage the Congress inflicted on AAP by fielding can-didates against its top leaders.
After all, it was the AAP which had dislodged the Congress from power in 2013 and marginalised it further by weaning away its core Muslim, Dalit and Purvanchali support base.
Congress candidates plays crucial role in defeat of Aap’s top leaders Be it Kejriwal or Sisodia, Congress candidates played a significant role in their defeat. Kejriwal was defeated by former MP Parvesh Verma from
the New Delhi seat by 4089 votes. It was sweet revenge for the Congress candidate and former CM Sheila Dikshit’s son, Sandeep Dikshit, who bagged 4568 votes, thus leading to the fall of the AAP leader who had defeated his mother in the same constituency in 2013.
Similarly, in Jangpura, from where Sisodia lost by 675 votes to Tarvinder Singh Marwah of the BJP, it were the 7350 votes bagged by Congress candidate Farhad Suri which made a perceptible difference in the outcome.
The Congress also had a ‘hand’ in defeat of AAP minister Saurabh Bharadwaj. He was defeated by Shikha Roy of BJP from Greater Kailash by 3188 votes. The Congress candidate Garvjit Singh bagged 6711 votes that proved crucial in Bharadwaj’s defeat. The Congress and AAP had fought the Lok Sabha elections together as INDIA bloc alliance partners but later parted ways and campaigned vigorously against the other.
Turncoats too make it count A number of Congress leaders had also moved to the BJP in the last few years and won their seats.
These included former ministers in the Sheila Dikshit government Arvinder Singh Lovely from Gandhi Nagar and Raj Kumar Chauhan from Mangol Puri. Similarly, former AAP minister Kailash Gahlot, who had moved to the BJP last year, won from Bijwasan.
From the AAP, CM Atishi retained Kalkaji by defeating outspoken BJP candidate and former MP Ramesh Bidhuri by 3521 votes. Here the Congress candidate Alka Lamba got 4392 votes.
Two other AAP ministers also won. They were Mukesh Kumar Ahlawat from Sultanpur Majra (SC) who defeated Karam Singh Karma of BJP by 17126 votes and Imran Hussain who retained Ballimaran by defeating Kamal Bagri of BJP by
29823 votes. Among the other prominent BJP leaders who won were former MP Parvesh Verma from New Delhi, former Delhi unit president Vijender Gupta from Rohini, and prominent Sikh leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa from Rajouri Garden.
