NEW DELHI: The gloom at the AAP head office in Rouse Avenue was made bitter by the party’s three candidates losing their security deposit in the general elections Pankaj Gupta (Chandni Chowk), Brijesh Goyal (New Delhi) and Dilip Pandey (North East) of the AAP came in at the third position and failed to get the minimum number of votes (one-sixth of the total votes polled) required to save their deposit money.
Incidentally, all these three seats were won by the BJP candidates with at least one lakh votes. Of the three seats, two were high-profile – New Delhi, synonymous with the Lutyens crowd, and the historic Chandni Chowk. The third featured two party presidents — Sheila Dikshit (Congress) and Manoj Tiwari (BJP) —throwing their hats in the poll fray.
Back at the head office of the Aam Aadmi Party at Rouse Avenue, a pall of gloom descended as the news trickled in of the BJP repeating its 2014 Lok Sabha election results.
Unlike other days, the media too melted away, perhaps on getting the whiff of the AAP’s poor show in the elections. Less than a handful of the party’s administration people sat in one room glued to a televison watching the election results, when this correspondent reached the party office in the afternoon.
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GK legislator and AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj was seen at the office for less than half hour, as he left soon after giving a short byte to the media. Bhardwaj congratulated the BJP for its win. “We respect the mandate of India and congratulate BJP for its victory. We will not speak about EVMs, the people follow different patterns in assembly and parliamentary elections,” he said.
Neither were sweets, nor the tents put up at the AAP’s office premises. Only, the Delhi Police personnel were seen inside the party office. That too was because the office is a stone throw’s away from the BJP headquarters at Deen Dayal Upadhya Marg.
AAP’s Raghav Chadha came out with a statement thanking the people for support. “We respect the people’s mandate with all humility. Lost we may have, but there is honour & joy in fighting for what one believes to be right.best of my abilities. We shall persevere!,” he tweeted.
Kejriwal Congratulates Modi
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal struck a conciliatory note after the BJP’s resounding win in the Lok Sabha elections. “I congratulate Narendra Modi for this historic win and look forward to working together for the betterment of the people of Delhi,” the chief minister tweeted.