In what was being seen as a prestige battle between the three major political parties of Delhi—the AAP, BJP and…
(PHOTO: SNS)
In what was being seen as a prestige battle between the three major political parties of Delhi—the AAP, BJP and Congress—the Bawana by-poll results have not only dealt a body blow to the saffron outfit but has also indicated towards the resurrection of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which witnessed many electoral reverses after sweeping the 2015 assembly polls.
AAP’s Ram Chander got 59,886 votes while BJP’s Ved Prakash polled 35,834 votes. 31,919 people voted in favour of Congress candidate Surender Kumar.
The AAP’s retaining of Bawana seat is clearly a shot in the arm for party convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who is currently entangled in a defamation suit filed against him by Union Minister Arun Jaitley.
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The fact that the AAP suffered humiliating defeats in Rajouri Garden Assembly by-poll and then municipal corporation elections have made the Bawana by-poll victory all the more special.
And minutes after the results were declared, Kejriwal tweeted that the people of Delhi had voted for the clean politics of AAP and the developmental work that it has done in the last 2.5 years that it has been in power.
The win has not only strengthened AAP’s position in the 70-seat Delhi Assembly with 66 seats but is sort of a revenge as the by-election was conducted after former party MLA Ved Prakash quit AAP and resigned from the seat to join the BJP.
There was also some face-saving for the Congress, which has no member in the Delhi Assembly, in the number of votes (31,919) it bagged against those of BJP (35,834).
BJP which had expressed confidence of winning the seat by a margin of more than 10,000 votes. However, the BJP can take heart from the fact that the seat witnessed a low voter turnout of just 45 per cent — a sizeable dip from the 61.83 per cent polling it witnessed in the last assembly elections in 2015.
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