NEW DELHI: The BJP was set to stage a thumping comeback in Delhi after more than 26 years on Saturday, sweeping away the Aam Aadmi Party from the national capital in another big win that extends its saffron footprint in the country.
As votes were counted for the 70-member Delhi assembly elections held earlier this week, trends and results on the Election Commission website showed the BJP ahead in 48 seats and the AAP in 22. AAP veteran and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia conceded defeat from Jangpura while party supremo Arvind Kejriwal stared at possible loss from New Delhi.
The Congress, which had ruled for 15 years under Sheila Dikshit, came up nought in the bipolar contest.
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 hopelessly polluted city. The BJP 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 excise policy. It clearly hit home.
And the AAP, which saw its leaders Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia jailed in the excise policy case, countered with vigour to say it was just not being allowed to govern as it wanted to because every move was being stymied by the lieutenant governor. That didn’t find the resonance it had hoped for.
For the party’s national convenor and two-time chief minister Kejriwal, the face of the party born of an anti-corruption movement in 2013, it was a tantalising seesaw between victory and defeat in his constituency. As the morning progressed, Kejriwal was trailing, then leading and then trailing again. After nine rounds, he was behind BJP’s Parvesh Sahib Singh by 1,170 votes.
Congress’ Sandeep Dikshit, son of three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit, was a far third with only 2,812 votes.
As one more line was added to the Congress’ epitaph, the AAP struggled with its own existential crisis. A loss in Delhi, which it has ruled for 10 successive years, could signal an end to its national ambitions with now only Punjab in its pocket.
Chief Minister Atishi, who took over after Kejriwal stepped down when he was jailed, was trailing in her constituency Kalkaji by 3,231 votes. Kejriwal’s trusted deputy Manish Sisodia was leading in Jangpura constituency by 2,438 seats.
It was a dramatic downslide for the party, which won 67 of the 70 seats in 2015, 62 in 2020 and could now end up with less than half of that. The promise of mohalla clinics, model schools, free water and electricity seemed to have lost their sheen.
The party, which had established its dominance over Delhi’s political map by wiping out both the BJP and Congress in 2015, stared at a possible defeat of its leader Kejriwal.
The Congress headquarters were desolate, workers at the AAP office wondered if the tide could turn and their leaders were huddled in conference. At the BJP office, the only sounds heard were the drumbeats of victory and euphoria with workers celebrating the fact that their party was continuing the winning streak of the Lok Sabha elections when it won all seven seats in the city.
Their party appeared set for power, having succeeded in breaking the spell of AAP-Kejriwal spell in the city.
BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, “The trends show that the people have trusted the policies of the BJP under PM Modi. It shows that the people belonging to the weaker section of Delhi trust Modi’s guarantees and the middle class is ready to stand with the ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp’.”
It didn’t matter who the chief minister would be.
The next Delhi chief minister will be from the BJP but the central leadership will decide on who it will be, the party’s Delhi president Virendra Sachdeva said.
According to Sachdeva, BJP candidates had worked diligently and Delhi’s voters had chosen development and a corruption-free governance model. “The people have picked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership because they wanted a model of development.”
Asserting that the BJP would form a “double-engine government” in Delhi, he said, “We have no hesitation in saying that this win is a result of PM Modi’s vision. We will ensure that Delhi gets a strong and stable government.”
Taking a dig at Kejriwal and his party, he said the BJP fought the elections on real issues affecting Delhiites such as broken roads, liquor policy controversies, dirty water and corruption.
“Delhi’s pain is real, and the people have voted to end it by choosing PM Modi’s leadership,” he said.
Enthusiastic party workers cheered, waved flags, and chanted slogans, eagerly awaiting the final results at the party headquarters. Holding lotus cutouts, the party’s election symbol, they smeared each other with saffron-coloured powder.
A man dressed as Aamir Khan’s character from the movie “PK” said, “This time, AAP has lost on this planet. The broom (AAP symbol) is gone, and the lotus has bloomed.”
Another BJP supporter, Samsung Ram, who travelled from Ujjain to show his support, said, “I came here for the Bharatiya Janata Party, and I stand here in the name of Narendra Modi.”
For the party, the assembly win in Delhi comes after it bagged Haryana and Maharashtra (as part of the Mahayuti alliance). The reverses of the Lok Sabha election, when it won 240 seats, getting overshadowed with its assembly victories. (Agencies)
