TIL Desk #DelhiAssemblyPollsResult2020/ The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party was on course to a landslide victory on Tuesday in the high-stakes Delhi Assembly polls, leaving the main rival BJP way behind and decimating the Congress in a bitterly-fought contest that took place in the midst of massive protests over the new citizenship law. The AAP was leading in 63 seats, the BJP in seven constituencies while the Congress drew a blank in the 70-member assembly, according to the latest vote tally.
The AAP’s stupendous victory comes nearly eight months after it suffered a severe drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls in which the party drew a blank while the BJP won all the seven seats. Among the AAP heavyweights who won the elections after a nail-bitter included Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Ragav Chaddha and Atishi. Delhi cabinet ministers Gopal Rai, Satyender Jain also were among prominent winners.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was leading in New Delhi Constituency by over 17,000 votes against his BJP rival Sunil Kumar Yadav.The AAP had registered a sensational victory in 2015 by winning 67 seats in a hurricane march that almost wiped out the BJP and the Congress. “We have been saying since the beginning that the upcoming polls will be fought on the basis of work done by us… You wait and watch, we will register a massive win,” AAP spokesperson Sanjay Singh told reporters.
There are counting centres across 21 locations in 11 districts, including at the CWG Sports Complex in east Delhi, NSIT Dwarka in west Delhi, Meerabai Institute of Technology and G B Pant Institute of Technology in southeast Delhi, Sir CV Raman ITI, Dheerpur in central Delhi, and Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Bawana in north Delhi. A total of 672 candidates, including 593 men and 79 women, were in the fray for the hotly contested elections.
While Kejriwal was the star campaigner for the AAP, Prime Minister Modi, Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were among those who extensively campaigned for the BJP. The Congress got into campaign mode much later. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh and party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were among those who campaigned for the Congress.
