Landslide victory for AAP in Delhi
Halting the Narendra Modi juggernaut, the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) was today headed for a landslide victory in the Delhi Assembly elections in a sweep that pulverised the BJP and decimated the Congress.
The AAP was leading in a staggering 66 seats in the 70-member assembly with its its nearest rival BJP far behind at a paltry 3 seats.
Congress, which ruled the national capital for 15 years till December 2013, may not even open its account while the INLD was ahead in one seat.
In all the assembly elections that followed the spectacular victory in the May Lok Sabha polls, the BJP formed governments in Maharastra, Haryana, Jharkhand and emerged the second largest party in Jammu and Kashmir with highest vote share.
AAP chief Kejriwal was leading in the prestigious New Delhi constituency while BJP's Chief Ministerial nominee Kiran Bedi was leading by 800 votes in Krishna Nagar seat, considered a traditional stronghold of the party.
Congress' Chief Ministerial candidate Ajay Maken was trailing in Sadar Bazar seat.
As the voting trends trickled in showing a massive landslide for AAP, Modi called Kejriwal over phone to congratulate him on the victory. He assured Kejriwal of Centre's complete support in the development of Delhi.
Bedi also congratulated Kejriwal saying "full marks to Arvind." Maken, whose party has been decimated in the elections, resigned as Congress General Secretary taking full responsibility for the debacle.
In 2013 polls, AAP had got 28 seats, BJP 31 and Congress in eight seats. Kejriwal had formed a short-lived government with Congress support and resigned after 49 days on the issue of Lokpal Bill.
The defeat for BJP was all the more bitter because it had won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the last year's general elections. The party's gamble of making Bedi its Chief Ministerial candidate back fired.
Kejriwal thanked Modi for his greetings and said he would like to meet him soon to discuss issues related to Delhi. He told the Prime Minister that he will need the Centre's help.
Expressing happiness over the party's performance, AAP leader Yogendra Yadav said, "it was not just under class, but the middle class also voted for AAP. The (Narendra Modi) juggernaut seems to have halted at least for now."
Reacting to the election trends, BJP said the polls were a referendum on Kejriwal and it should not be linked to the performance of Narendra Modi government.
"I do not see in this way," BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao said when asked whether the elections were a referendum on Modi's performance.
"In this election it was a referendum on Arvind Kejriwal. That's how people of Delhi saw it. I think people have certainly voted for Kejriwal. It was a referdum of AAP's 49 days in office and its performance. People felt they should be given a chance," he said.
Hailing AAP's performance, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Baneerjee called the election result a turning point in the country's political situation.
"Delhi election is a turning point of the present political situation. Shows political vendetta has no place in a democracy. Country needed this change," she said in a tweet.
"This is a victory for the people and a big defeat for the arrogant and those who are doing political vendetta & spreading hate among people," Banerjee said in another tweet.
As trends showed AAP's thumping victory, Bedi said she will take responsibility if BJP was defeated in the polls.
Bedi was trailing after two rounds round of counting in the Krishna Nagar constituency.
AAP candidate and former Minister Rakhi Birla was leading in Mangolpuri constituency in North West Delhi against her Congress rival Raj Kumar Chouhan. Another former AAP Minister Somnath Bharti was ahead in Malviya Nagar constituency in South Delhi over his Congress opponent Yoganand Shastri.
AAP leader and former Minister Manish Sisodia was leading in Patparganj seat in East Delhi against ex-AAP MLA and BJP candidate Vinod Kumar Binny. BJP's Jagdish Mukhi was ahead in Janakpuri.
Former AAP Minister Sourav Bhardwaj was leading from Greater Kailash where Congress' had fielded President Pranab Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee.
AAP's Sharad Chauhan was leading in Narela. AAP was also leading in Mehrauli, Kasturba Nagar and Jangpur.
With early leads giving the party a considerable lead, hundreds of AAP supporters broke into celebrations and raised slogans 'paanch saal Kejriwal' (5 years for Kejriwal).
Every lead projected on the massive LCD screen set up at AAP's East Patel Nagar office was being cheered by supporters.
Kejriwal reached the office early in the morning and is expected to address supporters after the final results are declared.
Senior party leaders Sisodia, Kumar Vishwas, Yogendra Yadav and Sanjay Singh were also present at the three-storey office and monitoring the results from there.
The AAP was leading in a staggering 66 seats in the 70-member assembly with its its nearest rival BJP far behind at a paltry 3 seats.
Congress, which ruled the national capital for 15 years till December 2013, may not even open its account while the INLD was ahead in one seat.
In an election that was billed as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi but rejected by BJP as such, the AAP wave spearheaded by its chief Arvind Kejriwal knocked the two major parties and their veterans from their citadels.
In all the assembly elections that followed the spectacular victory in the May Lok Sabha polls, the BJP formed governments in Maharastra, Haryana, Jharkhand and emerged the second largest party in Jammu and Kashmir with highest vote share.
AAP chief Kejriwal was leading in the prestigious New Delhi constituency while BJP's Chief Ministerial nominee Kiran Bedi was leading by 800 votes in Krishna Nagar seat, considered a traditional stronghold of the party.
Congress' Chief Ministerial candidate Ajay Maken was trailing in Sadar Bazar seat.
As the voting trends trickled in showing a massive landslide for AAP, Modi called Kejriwal over phone to congratulate him on the victory. He assured Kejriwal of Centre's complete support in the development of Delhi.
Bedi also congratulated Kejriwal saying "full marks to Arvind." Maken, whose party has been decimated in the elections, resigned as Congress General Secretary taking full responsibility for the debacle.
In 2013 polls, AAP had got 28 seats, BJP 31 and Congress in eight seats. Kejriwal had formed a short-lived government with Congress support and resigned after 49 days on the issue of Lokpal Bill.
The defeat for BJP was all the more bitter because it had won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the last year's general elections. The party's gamble of making Bedi its Chief Ministerial candidate back fired.
Kejriwal thanked Modi for his greetings and said he would like to meet him soon to discuss issues related to Delhi. He told the Prime Minister that he will need the Centre's help.
Expressing happiness over the party's performance, AAP leader Yogendra Yadav said, "it was not just under class, but the middle class also voted for AAP. The (Narendra Modi) juggernaut seems to have halted at least for now."
Reacting to the election trends, BJP said the polls were a referendum on Kejriwal and it should not be linked to the performance of Narendra Modi government.
"I do not see in this way," BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao said when asked whether the elections were a referendum on Modi's performance.
"In this election it was a referendum on Arvind Kejriwal. That's how people of Delhi saw it. I think people have certainly voted for Kejriwal. It was a referdum of AAP's 49 days in office and its performance. People felt they should be given a chance," he said.
Hailing AAP's performance, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Baneerjee called the election result a turning point in the country's political situation.
"Delhi election is a turning point of the present political situation. Shows political vendetta has no place in a democracy. Country needed this change," she said in a tweet.
"This is a victory for the people and a big defeat for the arrogant and those who are doing political vendetta & spreading hate among people," Banerjee said in another tweet.
As trends showed AAP's thumping victory, Bedi said she will take responsibility if BJP was defeated in the polls.
Bedi was trailing after two rounds round of counting in the Krishna Nagar constituency.
AAP candidate and former Minister Rakhi Birla was leading in Mangolpuri constituency in North West Delhi against her Congress rival Raj Kumar Chouhan. Another former AAP Minister Somnath Bharti was ahead in Malviya Nagar constituency in South Delhi over his Congress opponent Yoganand Shastri.
AAP leader and former Minister Manish Sisodia was leading in Patparganj seat in East Delhi against ex-AAP MLA and BJP candidate Vinod Kumar Binny. BJP's Jagdish Mukhi was ahead in Janakpuri.
Former AAP Minister Sourav Bhardwaj was leading from Greater Kailash where Congress' had fielded President Pranab Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee.
AAP's Sharad Chauhan was leading in Narela. AAP was also leading in Mehrauli, Kasturba Nagar and Jangpur.
With early leads giving the party a considerable lead, hundreds of AAP supporters broke into celebrations and raised slogans 'paanch saal Kejriwal' (5 years for Kejriwal).
Every lead projected on the massive LCD screen set up at AAP's East Patel Nagar office was being cheered by supporters.
Kejriwal reached the office early in the morning and is expected to address supporters after the final results are declared.
Senior party leaders Sisodia, Kumar Vishwas, Yogendra Yadav and Sanjay Singh were also present at the three-storey office and monitoring the results from there.
