Know why the builder of modern Delhi Sheila Dikshit lost the elections

New Delhi: Sheila Dikshit who ruled uninterruptedly for 15 years in Delhi not only lost by 22,000 votes to Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, but her party Congress faced the most shameful rout in recent history. The Congress Hand symbol was simply brushed aside by AAP's Broom symbol.Sheila Dikshit failed to gauge the anger among the people, forced to buy tomatoes at Rs 70 a kg, onions at Rs 80 a kg, and potatoes at Rs 40 a kg. That was the limit, and the voter of Delhi made up its mind. "The angry" voted for the BJP and "the very angry" voted for AAP.Today's rout at the hustings could well lead to Sheila Dikshit's exit from Delhi politics. The 75-year-old lady who gracefully ruled the city state for 15 years, had everything going wrong for her.First, the Dec 16 gangrape, which resulted in the young generation converging at India Gate and marching up to Rashtrapati Bhavan to express its anger.Though Sheila Dikshit rightly tried to save her skin by putting the onus of law and order on Delhi Police which functions under the Centre, the public anger did not abate.Soon after, prices of vegetables like onion, tomatoes and potatoes began to raise, and still continue to be in the higher range.Now let's have a look at Sheila Dikshit's profile:Dikshit was exposed to politics after she married Vinod Dikshit, an IAS officer and son of former union minister and governor Uma Shankar Dikshit.First elected to the Lok Sabha in 1984 from Kannauj Parliamentary Constituency of Uttar Pradesh, she served as a Minister under Rajiv Gandhi first as the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and later as a Minister of State in the Prime Minister's office.She served as Minister of State for Parliamentary affairs in Rajiv Gandhi's Cabinet between 1986-89 but was in brief hibernation after losing Lok Sabha elections in 1989 from Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh.She was designated as Chief Minister of Delhi by Congress in 1998 and since then she was ruling the capital.But this time Voters mercilessly spurned Ms Dikshit and her party, permitting the incumbent Congress less than 10 of Delhi's 70 seats.75 years old Dikshit is one of the most successful woman politicians of India.With the lose of power in 2013 assembly polls the future of the three-time Chief Minister appears to be uncertain. No one can deny that in the span of long 15 years Sheila has sone a good job in Delhi. Her government is being credited with developing infrastructure and better transport facilities to Delhi with the Metro Rail topping the list.Even her critics say that credit cannot be taken away from Dikshit for ushering in reforms in power sector, e-governance in various departments, series of social security schemes besides significantly enhancing the city's infrastructure during her uninterrupted rule.She, however, faced severe criticism ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010 due to delays in implementing projects.The taint of corruption in the CWG projects had reached the doors of her government as Prime Minister-appointed Shunglu Committee, CAG and CVC pointed various alleged irregularities though she strongly refuted them.Dikshit was often accused of not grooming second rung leaders in Delhi Congress.Uncontrollable inflation, which left vegetables out of common man's reach just two months ahead of polls, also seemed to have sealed Congress' fate in its traditional bastions.

Know why the builder of modern Delhi Sheila Dikshit lost the elections

New Delhi: Sheila Dikshit who ruled uninterruptedly for 15 years in Delhi not only lost by 22,000 votes to Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, but her party Congress faced the most shameful rout in

Top News

Senior IAS officer Lokhande Prashant Sitaram appointed new CBSE chief amid OSM row: Who is he?

Development for women, farmers, youth: Here's what DK Shivakumar said on his vision for Karnataka

India successfully flight-tests RudraM-II air-to-surface missile: Why is it a gamechanger?

England name XII for Lord's Test against New Zealand, Emilio Gay set to make Test debut