Delhi Election Results: Former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal lost the New Delhi constituency seat to BJP candidate Parvesh Verma. However, if the AAP had formed an alliance with Congress, he could have saved his seat. Let's know how.
As per the election commission, the BJP has so far won 11 seats and is leading on 37, while the AAP has secured victory on 10 seats and is leading on 12. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has crossed the majority mark and is set to form the government in the national capital after a 27-year-long drought.
How Kejriwal could have defeated Parvesh Verma?
According to the Election Commission, BJP’s Parvesh Verma secured 30,088 votes while Kejriwal got 25,999 votes. Verma defeated Kejriwal by a margin of 4,089 votes. Meanwhile, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit, who secured the third position, received 4,568 votes.
However, if AAP and Congress had formed an alliance, Dikshit's votes could have transferred to Kejriwal, allowing him to defeat Verma by a margin of 479 votes (4,568 - 4,089). This underscores how a Congress-AAP alliance could have played a decisive role in closely contested seats like New Delhi.
Congress-AAP alliance in Lok Sabha polls
The Congress and Kejriwal-led AAP had formed an alliance for the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, but the BJP swept all seven seats in the national capital.
During the campaigning for the Delhi assembly election, Congress launched a fierce attack against AAP. Senior leader Rahul Gandhi targeted AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal over his alleged involvement in the Delhi excise policy case and the Sheesh Mahal controversy.
While the AAP has dominated the political landscape in Delhi for the last 10 years, the BJP has been out of power in the city since 1998. The Congress, which governed Delhi from 1998 to 2013 and was hoping for a resurgence, seemed headed for its third straight washout. Delhi, with 1.55 crore eligible voters, recorded a turnout of 60.54 per cent in the February 5 elections.