The biggest takeaway of the by-election is not the victory of BJP but the decimation of AAP in the seat on which was last won by the party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a resounding victory in the Rajouri Garden bypoll on Thursday, defeating its nearest rival Congress by a margin of about 15,000 votes, and leaving far behind the ruling party Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which finished a poor third.
The results have come as a huge boost for the BJP, a mere 10 days ahead of the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections and also reflected that Congress is gaining ground in the city and snatching its vote bank from AAP.
The biggest takeaway of the by-election is not the victory of BJP but the decimation of AAP in the seat on which was last won by the party. The seat had fallen vacant after AAP leader Jarnail Singh quit as MLA early this year to contest the Punjab Assembly poll aagainst SAD patron Prakash Singh Badal.
This result could not have come at a worse time for Arvind Kejriwal which is still struggling to get over the humiliating defeats in the recently held Punjab and Goa Assembly elections. Also, AAP not only ended up third in the bypoll but its candidate Harjeet Singh also had the humiliation of losing his security deposit by securing just 10,243 votes, which is less than one sixth of the total votes polled. Analysts say that if this trend continues in the civic polls, there are question marks as to whether the party will stay together
Interestingly, Arvind Kejriwal remained silent on the defeat but his close confidant and Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that they would perform far better in the civic polls. "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," Sisodia said.
This time again, Congress candidate Meenakshi Chandela, who is also a councillor, secured 25,950 votes. In the last assembly poll, she was able to get only 14,167 votes. Even the voter turnout was low at 46.23 per cent compared to 72 per cent in the previous election.
Traditionally a Congress stronghold, the party had earlier lost this seat only on two occasions – one in 2013 to SAD (Badal)-BJP combine candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa and in 2015 to AAP's Jarnail Singh, who is now being held responsible by the party for its disastrous performance.
Accepting defeat, Congress state president Ajay Maken, who had held the seat thrice — and has the credit of winning it twice by the highest ever margins— said the bypoll results have clearly shown that people of Delhi have outrightly rejected AAP. "We are bound to emerge as the clear winner in the coming civic elections. AAP is now completely out of the race."
Hownever, Sirsa who was the winning BJP-SAD candidate for the Rajouri Garden seat said, "We will repeat the success in the upcoming municipal elections." Sirsa, who is one of the richest politicians in the city, said he fought on the BJP seat just to "send a message to AAP the alliance is stronger and also have faith in saffron party."
"Kejriwal should now understand that it is not EVM but people who give verdict in a democracy. It is a day when people have strongly rejected a fascist Tughlaqi ruler Kejriwal."
— Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari
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