NEW DELHI: Delhi has delivered its verdict, with the BJP securing a thumping majority, winning 48 of the 70-member assembly seats, while the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been reduced to only 22 seats.
However, a closer examination of the vote share reveals a much tighter contest. The BJP garnered 45.72% of the votes, just 2.16% more than AAP’s 43.56%. Once a dominant force in the capital, the Congress failed to win a single seat despite securing 6.36% of the vote share. This has sparked speculation about the potential impact of a united opposition. Had the INDIA alliance remained intact, with AAP and Congress contesting jointly, their combined vote share would have stood at 49.92%.
Voter behaviour in an alliance scenario remains uncertain, making it difficult to predict whether a tie-up would have altered the results.
Notably, in 14 constituencies where AAP lost to BJP, the Congress secured more votes than the margin of AAP’s defeat. These seats include
Timarpur, Badli, Nangloi Jat, Madipur, Rajinder Nagar, New Delhi, Jangpura, Kasturba Nagar, Malviya Nagar, Mehrauli, Chhatarpur, Sangam Vihar, Greater Kailash, and Trilokpuri.
Among the high-profile losses for AAP, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was defeated in New Delhi by BJP’s Parvesh Verma by 4,089 votes, while Congress’ Sandeep Dikshit secured 4,568 votes. In Jangpura, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia lost to BJP’s Tarvinder Singh Marwah by 675 votes, with Congress’ Farhad Suri winning 7,350 votes.
Other prominent AAP leaders also faced narrow defeats where Congress votes exceeded their losing margins. Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj lost to BJP’s Shikha Roy in Greater Kailash by 3,188 votes, with Congress’ Garvit Singhvi securing 6,711 votes.
In Malviya Nagar and Rajinder Nagar, AAP leaders Somnath Bharti and Durgesh Pathak also lost in close contests where Congress votes played a crucial role.
While the BJP’s emphatic victory marks a significant shift in Delhi’s political landscape, the fragmented opposition raises questions about what could have been had AAP and Congress joined forces.
VOTER BEHAVIOUR
Voter behaviour in an alliance scenario remains uncertain, making it difficult to predict whether a tie-up would have altered the results. Notably, in 14 constituencies where AAP lost to BJP, the Congress secured more votes than the margin of AAP’s defeat. These seats include Timarpur, Badli, Nangloi Jat, Madipur, New Delhi, Jangpura, Kasturba Nagar, Malviya Nagar, among others.
