How turncoats fared in Delhi poll fray
In all, at least 40 leaders switched parties ahead of the assembly polls, with 20 just from three parties — the BJP, the AAP, and the Congress.
In November 2024 — months before the Delhi assembly elections — state minister Kailash Gahlot resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and switched over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). His new party fielded him for the polls on February 5, though from a different seat — Bijwasan instead of Najafgarh.
On Saturday, the popular Jat leader emerged victorious, comfortably winning the Bijwasan constituency by 11,276 votes. However, Gahlot was far from being the only leader to switch parties in these polls — in fact his rival Devinder Sehrawat, the Congress nominee for the seat, was also previously with the AAP, and had won the seat on that party’s ticket.
In all, at least 40 leaders switched parties ahead of the assembly polls, with 20 just from three parties — the BJP, the AAP, and the Congress.
Other leaders felt the grass was greener on the other side, and switched parties, included Arvinder Singh Lovely, a former Delhi Congress president, who contested the Gandhi Nagar seat on a BJP ticket, and defeated his nearest rival Kamal Arora — the Congress pick who had recently moved from the AAP — by 12,748 votes.
Another seat that witnessed a direct fight between two defectors was Patel Nagar, where BJP’s Raaj Kumar Anand (a former AAP minister, who contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on a BSP ticket) lost to AAP candidate Pravesh Ratn (formerly of the BJP) by a little over 4,000 votes.
In Rajouri Garden, BJP’s Manjinder Singh Sirsa — formerly of the Akali Dal — defeated AAP’s Dhanwati Chandela by 18,190 votes.
Meanwhile, AAP heavyweight Manish Sisodia, contesting the Jangpura seat, fell to Congress-turned-BJP leader Tarwinder Singh Marwah by a narrow margin of 675 votes.
Recommended Topics