New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party looks likely to win a sweeping 60-plus seats — marginally short of the 67 seats it won in 2015 — building on its early morning surge as the counting of votes progressed.
The BJP, which was hoping for around 55 seats, might end up with less than 10 – an outcome many opposition leaders have hailed as a defeat of divisive politics. The campaign for Delhi has been has been highly polarised, riddled with violence and hate speeches. The BJP had banked on the anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh for a surge. AAP had expressed confidence that its performance in health and education sectors and free power and water to the people will see it through.
Delhi voted on 8 February after an aggressive campaign that pitted the AAP against India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The results are a setback for the BJP after it won a landslide in general elections last year.
The BJP’s campaign saw heavyweights such as Home Minister Amit Shah take to the Delhi streets to woo voters but that appears to have had little impact on the outcome.
The latest results show the AAP leading in 58 seats, while the BJP is ahead in just 12.
Mr Kejriwal, 51, is a former anti-corruption campaigner who first became chief minister in 2013 and then re-elected in 2015 with a landslide.
He has been credited with turning around Delhi’s government-run schools, establishing affordable neighbourhood clinics and providing cheap water and electricity. He has also consistently campaigned for greater autonomy for the state, as control of its police force and land still rest with the federal government.
The BJP, on the other hand, focused its campaign on criticising a peaceful gathering of thousands in Shaheen Bagh – a largely Muslim neighbourhood in Delhi – which has been protesting against India’s controversial new citizenship law, known as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Many Indians say the law discriminates against Muslims.
Early results show that the AAP’s Amanatullah Khan is leading comfortably in Okhla, a seat that includes Shaheen Bagh.
The AAP’s impending win is proof that “real nationalism is to work for the people,” Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told the news website.
The BJP has only marginally improved its tally from 2015, when they won only three seats as the AAP swept to victory. The latest figures showed it leading in only eight seats.
The Congress party, which won no seats last time, appears to have drawn a blank this time too.
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