Several senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders were embarrassed in the Delhi assembly elections, the results of which were announced on Saturday, with party national convener Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, state minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, and former minister Satyendar Jain all losing to their Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rivals.
However, a handful of heavyweights — outgoing chief minister Atishi, ministers Gopal Rai and Imran Hussain, and senior leader Amanatullah Khan — managed to retain their seats, lending respectability to what was otherwise a crushing loss for the party.
In all, the AAP managed to win only 22 out of 70 seats in Delhi — a far cry from the 62 seats it won in the 2020 polls. The party’s hopes of posing a strong opposition in the Delhi assembly will now rest on the shoulders of these leaders, who managed to win amidst a BJP wave.
In Kalkaji, Atishi faced a tough fight against BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri, with the lead between the two leaders seesawing across various rounds of counting, before the CM finally emerged victorious with a thin margin of 3,521 votes. Congress pick Alka Lamba was a distant third.
The hotly contested seat had witnessed several controversies, including purported sexist remarks, allegations of violence, and multiple police complaints.
{{/usCountry}}The hotly contested seat had witnessed several controversies, including purported sexist remarks, allegations of violence, and multiple police complaints.
{{/usCountry}}On Saturday, Atishi assured her victory means the fight against BJP will continue. “I won my seat, but this is not time to celebrate and the war against the BJP will continue. We accept the people’s mandate,” she said.
Rai’s victory in Babarpur was far more comfortable, winning the seat by a margin of 18,994 to become a legislator for a third time. The 49-year-old, in addition to handling the environment and development portfolios in the AAP government, is also the party’s Delhi convener.
‘I want to thank and show gratitude to all the respected voters of Babarpur assembly for helping me register a historic victory for the third time,” Rai said on Saturday.
Hussain, 43, and Khan, 51 — two popular Muslim faces of the AAP — also won their respective seats for the third time. The party will have to keep hold of both seats if it aims to return to power in the next elections.
In Okhla, Khan retained his seat for a third consecutive time by 23,639 votes. Though the margin was significantly lower than that in the 2020 polls — when he won the seat by 71,000 votes — his victory is important as it allows the AAP to retain a footing in what is an important seat, though the reduced margin indicates that the BJP, and indeed other parties, have managed to make up ground this time.
Hussain, who held the food and supplies portfolio in the AAP government, won the Ballimaran constituency by more than 29,000 votes.