‘Kejriwal’s Tughlaqi rule rejected’: BJP wins Delhi’s Rajouri Garden bypoll

BJP bagged the Rajouri Garden seat in the bypoll held ahead of the MCD election. The party candidate Majinder Singh Sirsa won by a margin of 13,000 votes. Congress came in second while AAP was at the third spot.

The BJP scored a massive win in Rajouri bypoll in west Delhi on Thursday defeating its nearest rival Congress by over 14,000 votes.

BJP supporters celebrate the victory of party candidate Majinder Singh Sirsa in Rajouri Garden bypoll on Thursday. (Ravi Choudhary/HT Photo)

After the victory, Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said the bypoll results again show that there is a high Modi wave. “ Arvind Kejriwal should now understand that it is not EVM but people who give verdict in a democracy. It is a day when people have strongly rejected a fascist Tughlaqi rule under Kejriwal,” Tiwari said.

The bypoll, which is being seen as a precursor to the MCD polls scheduled for April 23, came as a blow for AAP which could only get 10,000 votes securing a distant third position. The AAP candidate secured only 14% the votes polled and lost deposit.

BJP’s winning candidate Majinder Singh Sirsa said the results showed that people had rejected AAP. “This is the end of AAP-led government in Delhi,” Sirsa said.

The seat was held by AAP’s Jarnail Singh, who resigned to fight elections in Punjab. The party had swept Delhi with 67 out of 70 seats in the assembly elections in 2015 and is attempting to wrest all three municipal councils in the Capital from the BJP.

As per the final tally, BJP got 40,602 votes. Congress, which came in second secured 25,950 while AAP could get only 10,243 votes.

As the 13-phase counting opened early on Thursday, BJP consistently maintained lead. The nearly 3,000 vote lead widened after 10 rounds landing the party a 14,000 vote margin.

BJP supporters celebrate the party’s victory in Rajouri Garden bypoll on Thursday.

With victory looking certain after the fourteenth round, BJP supporters outside the counting venue started chanting ‘Modi-Yogi’ and broke into celebration. Delhi BJP vice-president Rajiv Babbar said that the results should be a lesson for Arvind Kejriwal.