The Aam Aadmi Party was all set to win 67 seats out of Delhi’s 70 seats, according to the leads published so far, with BJP winning 3 and Congress coming up with zero seats.
If BJP gets less than 7 seats, it may not qualify for Leader of Opposition post.
PM Narendra Modi congratulated Arvind Kejriwal on the results.
In an indicator of the overall direction, Kiran Bedi is trailing from the Krishna Nagar constituency by 1,000 votes, a strong pro-BJP area.
“We are stunned by the results. We had no idea that the results would be like this,” BJP spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain said, adding that he saw no reason to couch the truth.
The results vindicated the stand taken by psephologist and AAP leader Yogendra Yadav, who predicted a landslide victory for his party based on the voteshare numbers given by exit polls.
AAP spokesperson Ashutosh said the key turning point was the negative campaign run by the BJP focusing on Kejriwal. “We knew we had more support, but it was only when the BJP started getting shrill and personal that I felt that the middle class started supporting us in a big way.”
Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai took a potshot at prominent Indian news channels noting that the elections have rendered their strategy of blocking out AAP irrelevant.
Channels had blocked AAP out of their coverage for months leading to the elections.
“The Delhi Dialogues (of AAP) were not even covered by the media, even print media,” said journalist Manini Chatterjee, “So this was a movement from below.”
BJP managed to get around 32% of the total votes cast, largely unchanged from the last state level polls. A large number of voters who voted for the Congress the last time voted for the AAP this time.
2015 | 2014 | 2013 | |
AAP | 54%+ | 33% | 29.5% |
BJP | 33% | 46% | 34% |
Congress | 10% | 15% | 24.5% |
BJP leader Udit Raj said the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was the biggest factor in BJP’s defeat. The BJP has ruled MCD for years. The MCD, in many ways more powerful than the Delhi Government, does not enjoy a good reputations among Delhiites.
Yogendra Yadav indicated that the AAP will now try to again spread out to other states.
“States like Gujarat, Maharashtra etc.. where the Congress is supposed to occupy the opposition space, but where it has failed (to do so). The next two years will be exciting times (for AAP)” he said.
Chetan Bhagat, author, warned the AAP against losing its grounding after the victory as it had done last time. “They will get this – everyone loves me – feeling. But they should take this results with humility,” he said, adding that the party has an important role to play even outside Delhi, but needs to keep its feet on the ground.
Prithvi Reddy, who leads Aam Aadmi Party in Bangalore, said it was important for the party to demonstrate its vision in Delhi and not just try to focus on winning seats outside the state.
Delhi Election Results so far
Leads | Wins | |
AAP | 67 | |
BJP | 3 | |
Congress | 0 | |
INLD | 0 |
BJP has lost about 40% of its seats, compared to its General Election performance, so far.
[socialpoll id=”2252057″]
Interestingly, Greater Kailash saw BSP take the lead. Besides, the Lakshmi Nagar constituency, where a lot of Purvanchalis reside, has seen the Congress candidate AK Walia leading.
Ajay Maken of Congress was trailing from Sadar Bazar and was at the third spot.
Ballimaran, in Old Delhi, dominated by people of Muslim faith, is seeing BJP take the lead.
Najafgarh, dominated by Jats, saw BJP take the early lead. So too, Patel Nagar saw BJP lead.
Shekhar Gupta, former editor of Indian Express, said the results indicated that the AAP would now focus on the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections. The BMC has been ruled by the Sena-BJP alliance for over a decade, and has a budget that is larger than that of Kerala, Gupta said.
Among the AAP candidates who are leading in Delhi are:
Constituency | Candidate |
Jung Pura | |
Malviya Nagar | Somnath Bharti |
RK Puram | |
New Delhi | Arvind Kejriwal |
Patparganj | Manish Sisodhia |
Mongol Puri | |
Rajouri Garden | Jarnail Singh |
Moti Nagar |
Among prominent BJP leaders who are trailing/ have lost the election are:
Constituency | Candidate |
Patparganj | Vinod Kumar Binny |
Krishna Nagar | Kiran Bedi |
The AAP is expected to win around 40 seats out of the total 70, according to various exit polls, while the BJP is expected to win 28 and the Congress 2.
The fledgling AAP under its leader Arvind Kejriwal led in 19 seats. BJP led in 8 seats, while the Congress led in 3. BSP led in 1. (Please see the table above for the latest results. We will not be updating the text as fast as the tables)
It must be remembered that the leads can change as more and more seats are added, and as more and more votes are counted.