NEW DELHI: Arvind Kejriwal led the Aam Aadmi Party to a stupendous victory yet again in the Delhi Assembly polls, dealing a body blow to the main rival BJP and completely decimating the Congress in a keenly-watched battle in the midst of anti-CAA protests.
The 51-year-old bureaucrat-turned-politician almost replicated the AAP’s fairy-tale victory of 2015 by riding on his government’s development agenda, and in the process emerged as a key leader in the national political landscape.
As the AAP cruised to victory, leaders cutting across party lines, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, congratulated Kejriwal for the historic win. (See Page 5)
According to the final figures released by the Election Commission, the AAP won in 62 of the 70 seats with a total vote share of 53.57 per cent. The BJP emerged victorious in the remaining eight seats, getting 38.51 per cent of the total votes. The Congress could not even manage a single seat and ended with 4.26 per cent vote share.
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. The victory also assumes significance as it came in the face of BJP’s no holds barred attack against protesters opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act as “supporters of Pakistan” during the bitterly-fought campaign.
“Dilliwalon, ghazab kar diya aapne (Delhiites, you have done the impossible). I love you,” Kejriwal, flanked by his wife, daughter and senior party leaders, said in a brief thank you address at the party’s headquarters here. (See Page 5)
Though BJP’s campaign focused on national security issues, the AAP mainly focused on its achievements in the fields of education, healthcare and infrastructure. 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.
Carrying blue and white balloons, buntings and giant cut-outs of their leader Arvind Kejriwal, AAP workers celebrated at the party’s headquarter in the national capital. (PTI)
