BJP sweeps all 7 Delhi seats again

The BJP polled over 56 per cent of votes, more than the combined vote share of the Congress and the AAP.

-- SPECIAL COVERAGE: INDIA DECIDES

Riding high on the Modi wave, the Bharatiya Janata Party made a clean sweep in the national capital winning all seven seats with massive margins as all its candidates bagged more than 50 per cent of votes, while the Congress for the first time in five years fared better than the ruling Aam Aadmi Party which was relegated to the third spot.

The BJP's overall performance in the national capital, which witnessed a triangular contest, was miles ahead of its opponents --- the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress.

The BJP polled over 56 per cent of votes, more than the combined vote share of the Congress (22.5 per cent) and the AAP (18.1 per cent).

The BJP had bagged 46.4 per cent votes in 2014.

Declaration of results was delayed due matching of paper slips from over 350 VVPATs. Results for Chandni Chowk and South Delhi were declared only by midnight.

The saffron party led in all seven seats since the commencement of counting at 8 am.

Celebrations began outside counting centres by noon as many BJP candidates were well ahead in the race.

Wearing NaMo T-shirts and saffron scarves, BJP supporters started bursting fire crackers, shouting pro-Narendra Modi slogans outside the counting stations as soon as the initial trend started trickling in.

Hordes of supporters were also seen waving the tricolour and shouting slogan 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', while police tried to ensure that they did not hamper the traffic movement.

Traffic was also restricted near the BJP headquarters as party workers erupted in celebrations.

Stormy weather in the national capital was also symptomatic of the turbulence in the Congress and the AAP, which were wiped out in the city.

The BJP literally had the wind at its back, as the saffron party was galloping towards a resounding victory. Several parts of the country also witnessed dust storm.

The results could have an impact on the Delhi assembly polls scheduled in February 2020.

Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari exuded confidence that his party will form government in the Delhi in 2020.

"In 2019 Lok Sabha elections the people of Delhi rejected the politics of lies. The pessimist politics done by the negative minded leaders of Delhi have been rejected. In the Vidhan Sabha (assembly) polls people are determined to form a strong government of the BJP for the development of Delhi," said Tiwari, who defeated former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit by over 3.66 lakh votes.

Commenting on the AAP's performance in the polls, Tiwari said, "Arvind Kejriwal's negativity depressed the voters which was reflected in poor standing of his party in the polls."

The victory margins were massive this time.

BJP's West Delhi candidate Parvesh Singh Verma broke his own record of 2014 of winning with the highest margin in Delhi.

This time he won with a margin 5,78,486 votes. He was followed by North West Delhi candidate Hans Raj Hans who defeated his AAP rival Gugan Singh by a margin of 5,53,897 votes.

Cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir defeated Congress's Arvinder Singh Lovely by a margin of 3,91,222 votes.

"Neither it's a 'Lovely' cover drive and nor it is an 'atishi ballebazi' (aggressive batting) It's just the BJP's 'gambhir' (serious) ideology which people have supported. Thanks a lot to all the @BJP4India and @BJP4Delhi team-mates for getting this mandate. We won't fail people's choice. #EkBaarPhirModiSarkar," Gambhir tweeted referring to his opponents Atishi and Lovely.

This is also for the first time since the 2013 assembly polls that the Congress fared better than the AAP in any major poll in the national capital as the two parties have a common voter base.

The results are likely to be a cause of concern for the Arvind Kejriwal led-AAP amid the massive surge of vote percentage in the favour of the BJP and the signs of revival of the Congress.

The grand old party was on the second spot on five seats.

While Congress veterans Dikshit, Lovely, J P Agarwal, Mahabal Mishra and Ajay Maken came second, boxer-turned-politician Vijender Singh lost his deposit and was a distant third on the South Delhi seat.

Dikshit, who led the party in the Lok Sabha polls in the national capital, termed the results as "disappointing". "We should have won," she said.

The results were more disappointing for the AAP which had contested the polls on the plank of statehood for Delhi. Its star performers Atishi, who is given credit of revolutionising the education system of government schools, party face on television channels Raghav Chadha and Dilip Pandey also lost.

Three of its candidates -- Pandey (North East Delhi), Brijesh Goyal (New Delhi) and Pankaj Gupta (Chandni Chowk) lost their deposits.

Kejriwal congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the "historic" win of the NDA in the Lok Sabha election.

"I congratulate Sh Narendra Modi for this historic win and look forward to working together for the betterment of the people of Delhi," Kejriwal tweeted.

In another tweet, Kejriwal said the AAP fielded good candidates, had a good campaign and all party volunteers worked hard. He said the mandate of the people is supreme and his government will continue to work for the people of Delhi.