Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP sweeps BJP aside in Delhi assembly election, retains power; Congress ends with zero

NEW DELHI: Banking on the free schemes and development work done by his government in the past five years, Aam Aadmi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal registered a landslide victory on Tuesday (February 11, 2020) in the high-stakes Delhi Assembly election 2020. AAP sweep left the main rival BJP way behind while the Congress for the second time in a row failed to open its account in the bitterly-fought contest.

AAP's victory is also crucial since the high-decibel election in Delhi was fought in the midst of massive protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and a galaxy of BJP heavyweights who aggressively campaigned for the saffron party.

According to the final votes tally released by the Election Commission, the AAP won in 62 constituencies while the BJP got eight seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly.

The AAP's resounding victory comes nearly eight months after it suffered a severe drubbing in the 2019 Lok Sabha election during which the party drew a blank while the BJP won all the seven seats in Delhi.

Top AAP heavyweights who won the elections included Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Raghav Chaddha and Atishi. Delhi Cabinet Ministers Gopal Rai, Satyender Jain and party MLAs Amanatullah Khan, Saurabh Bhardwaj were among prominent winners. Sisodia just about managed to get the better of his BJP rival Ravinder Singh Negi after a nail-biter by just 3,207 votes. 

AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was ahead of his BJP rival Sunil Kumar Yadav by over 18,000 votes in New Delhi assembly constituency.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah-powered BJP, which was accused of carrying out a "divisive" election campaign to polarise the voters by consistently highlighting the over 50-day anti-CAA demonstration by a group of women in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh area, failed to connect with the Delhi voters and accepted the verdict.

While BJP's campaign focused on national security issues, Kejriwal's party mainly focused on ''good governance'', the work done by the AAP government in sectors like education, healthcare and infrastructure.

Freebies offered by the Kejriwal government also played a pivotal role in his party's massive victory. Shortly after the picture became clear, AAP MP Sanjay Singh said, ''People of Delhi have accepted Arvind Kejriwal as their son. Results have now proved who is a terrorist and who is a patriot.''

AAP No. 2 and senior party leader Manish Sisodia, who eventually won after trailing for several rounds in Patparganj assembly constituency, said that the BJP indulged in "politics of hate", but people rejected its ''divisive'' agenda.

With a massive victory for AAP, the party headquarters were decorated with blue and white balloons and big banners with a picture of Kejriwal and other top party leaders. AAP chief Kejriwal, flanked by his wife Sunita, children and top party leaders, addressed party workers during which he thanked Lord Hanuman and the people of Delhi for giving a strong mandate to his party.

In this election, the Congress party's performance touched a record low as the party bagged less than 5 per cent of the total votes polled and 62 of its candidates lost their deposits.

The party, which ruled Delhi for 15 years on the trot under former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, failed to open its account for the second consecutive assembly election in Delhi. Only three of its candidates - Arvinder Singh Lovely from Gandhi Nagar, Devender Yadav from Badli and Abhishek Dutt from Kasturba Nagar  - managed to save their deposits.