Poonam Nath

AAP reign falls behind; BJP Government rules in Delhi after 27 years of exile

Digital Desk: BJP, after a long exile of 27 years, forces back themselves to reign in Delhi again, the ruling government swept the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), replacing chief leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, who reigned for more than two decades.

With vote counting in its late stages, the BJP has already won four seats and leads in 43 of the 70 seats up for grabs, a dramatic turnaround from its single-digit score in the 2020 Assembly elections.

AAP earlier dominated the previous two elections with clear wins; now secured only 2 seats and trails with 21. whereas Congress fails to secure a single lead following the woeful record of going empty-handed for the 3rd time.

In a significant disappointment, Parvesh Verma defeated party leader Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi. After lagging behind the former MP for the majority of the vote, Kejriwal, who has occupied the crucial seat since 2013, lost by almost 3,000 votes.

In Jangpura, Manish Sisodia, Kejriwal's former deputy, gave in to Tarvinder Singh Marwah. The AAP veteran fell behind by 572 votes after nine rounds of counting.

In Kalkaji, Atishi, who succeeded Kejriwal as chief minister following his detention, overcame BJP candidate Ramesh Bidhuri. After taking the lead at first, Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj lost ground to his BJP opponent in the Greater Kailash seat.

Avadh Ojha, the AAP candidate for Patparganj who took Manish Sisodia's seat, gave in after four hours of counting.

Voter turnout for the February 5 Delhi Assembly elections was 60.54 percent, which is almost 2.5 percentage points lower than in 2020. With more than 61,000 men and 53,578 women voting.