BJP wins Delhi's Rajouri Garden seat

The Aam Aadmi Party was in for a rude jolt on Thursday when it lost its sitting seat in Delhi to BJP in an Assembly bypoll, that too by losing deposit, just before a crucial civic polls in the capital.BJP's Manjinder Singh Sirsa won the Rajouri Garden seat by a margin of 14,652 with Congress' Meenakshi Chandela, a sitting councillor from the area, came second pushing AAP's Harjeet Singh to the third.

AAP could clock only 10,243 votes, which is less than one-sixth of the votes polled to secure deposit, compared to 2015 elections when it got 54,916 votes and won the seat. In a quick reaction, AAP senior leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the results showed that there is "need to revisit people connect".

With this, BJP's number in the Assembly has risen to four in a House of 70. One seat is vacant as an AAP MLA resigned and joined BJP recently. Congress has no MLAs in the current Assembly.

The bypoll was necessitated after AAP's sitting MLA Jarnail Singh resigned to contest against the then Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in Lumbi in the Assembly elections there recently. Singh lost to Badal.

Sisodia said it appeared that people were unhappy with Jarnail Singh's decision to go to punjab and contest election. BJP is upbeat as it is continuing its winning streak in the recent Assembly elections while Congress could be



relieved that it is back in business after the inglorious defeat with no seats in the Assembly which it ruled for 15 years till 2013.

The Congress is a bit upset but not unhappy as they believe that they are back in the political game in the national capital. The results will give more trouble for AAP as it is in the midst of another electoral war against BJP and Congress to wrest control of three municipal corporations in Delhi where the polls is scheduled for April 23. Losing a sitting seat would put pressure on the leadership, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and their electoral strategy to make Jarnail resign and contest Punjab polls.

An initial analysis of votes showed that those who supported AAP in 2013 and 2015 elections did not come out to vote, apparently in anger over the resignation of the sitting MLA. Around 45% voted in this seat this time while it was 72.12% in 2015.

Sirsa, who belongs to NDA ally Akali Dal and contested in BJP symbol, and Chandela had contested in the 2015 too but lost to Jarnail, who rose to limelight after he threw a shoe at the then Union Minister P Chidambaram at a press conference in protest against Congress giving seats to anti-Sikh riots case accused.

This time, Sirsa emerged winner with 40,602 votes while Chandela, who got 14,167 votes in the previous polls, improved her position to 25,950 votes.