NEW DELHI: Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia today triumphed over his former colleague Vinod Kumar Binny by a margin of over 28,000 votes in the high-stakes Patparganj constituency.
In an impressive show of strength, the AAP leader recaptured the crucial seat, more than doubling the margin of victory in 2013 polls.
Former AAP MLA Binny, who was fighting on a BJP ticket, finished second with 46,716 votes while Congress was reduced to a poor third with its candidate Anil Kumar totalling a mere 16,260.
Sisodia, who was a minister in the previous Arvind Kejriwal government, called it a "victory of honesty" and hoped that it would now spawn a "positive competition" between Delhi and the Centre.
"I think the love and enthusiasm shown for a party is historic. Now, there will be a positive competition between the Centre and the state (Delhi). So, far it was negative competition and competition of corruption," he told reporters.
Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, born out of a fight against corruption, today scripted history, with a massive sweep of 67 seats in the 70-member House. BJP won 3 while Congress has drawn a blank.
Asked as to how many seats the party had expected, Sisodia, who reached the counting centre early in the day, said, "We had prepared well on all 70 seats. We were positive about all of them."
He said "the responsibility on us is much greater now" and expressed the party's desire to make Delhi better for everyone.
"We want to work on improving the municipal corporations and education system here," he said.