NEWS
VIEWS
INTERVIEWS
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
ISSUES '98
MANIFESTOS
OVERHEARD
POLLING BOOTH
INDIA SPEAKS!
YEH HAI INDIA
CHAT
ELECTIONS '96

BJP supreme in Delhi, almost

The Bharatiya Janata Party has swept the Lok Sabha elections in the national capital, registering emphatic victories in six of Delhi's seven seats. Its opponent, the Congress, however, succeeded in winning the Karol Bagh (scheduled caste) by a narrow margin.

While the BJP was successful in retaining Delhi South, New Delhi, Delhi Outer, Delhi East, and Delhi Sadar seats, it also managed to wrest the minority-dominated Chandi Chowk from the Congress. Chandni Chowk has been a traditional Congress stronghold, having been ousted from this seat only in 1991.

BJP's Vijay Goel, who in 1996 defeated former Union minister Jagdish Tytler in Delhi Sadar, turned giant-killer once again when he won the Chandni Chowk constituency, beating J P Aggarwal of the Congress by 4,349 votes. Aggarwal was seeking a reelection.

The nearly 68,000 votes for Janata Dal nominee Shoaib Iqbal is seen as a major reason for the Congress defeat. During the 1996 elections, Muslims had voted in great numbers for the Congress and helped the party win the seat by over 22,000 votes.

Goel polled 79,546 votes, Aggarwal 75,197, and the Iqbal received 67,547 votes.

Karol Bagh (SC) brought some consolation for the Congress where the All-India Congress Committee General Secretary Meira Kumar won the seat, defeating her nearest rival, Delhi Minister of Tourism and Welfare S P Ratawal, by a slender margin of 4,826 votes.

Kumar, who had comfortably won the seat during the last election, was at one stage maintaining a huge lead, but Ratawal in the later stage made some major gains and reduced the margin. While Meira Kumar polled 145,887 votes, Ratawal received 141,061 votes.

BJP spokesperson Sushma Swaraj gave her party the biggest victory in terms of margin in Delhi, defeating Ajay Maken of the Congress, a novice in national politics, by 118,713 votes in the Delhi South constituency. Swaraj, who retains the seat, polled 333,756 votes while Maken got 215,043 votes.

Former Delhi Chief Minister and BJP Vice-President Madan Lal Khurana defeated the Congress's M M Aggarwal in Delhi Sadar by 48,481 votes. The BJP retained the seat, which was won by Vijay Goel the last time. Khurana won 168,716 votes to Aggarwal's 120,235.

Former Jammu and Kashmir governor Jagmohan retained New Delhi, the seat of the government of India, by a margin over 32,647 votes. He defeated former Union minister and AICC General Secretary R K Dhawan. Jagmohan had won the constituency in 1996, defeating cine star Rajesh Khanna. of the Congress. Dhawan polled 107,258 votes, while the ex-bureaucrat won 139,905 votes.

In East Delhi constituency, BJP nominee Lal Bihari Tewari won by 45,362 votes, defeating former Union minister Sheila Dixit of the Congress. Tewari, a former minister in the Delhi government, had won the seat in a byelection last year. Prior to that, the seat was held by B L Sharma 'Prem' of the BJP. Tewari polled 563,089 votes, Dixit 517,721.

In Outer Delhi, BJP Vice-President K L Sharma registered a comfortably defeated Deep Chand Sharma (Congress) by a margin of about 98,350 votes. While the BJP received 715,170 votes, the veteran Congress leader polled 616,820 votes.

With the exception of New Delhi, the BJP retained its five seats in the Delhi area with smaller margins than the last time.

In the Gonda assembly byelection, the Congress nominee Bhisma Sharma won by 2,920 votes against B D Sharma of the BJP. Bhisma Sharma polled 23,171 votes, while B D Sharma received 21,551 votes.