The seven parliamentary constituencies in the national Capital made its valuable contribution to the landslide victory of the BJP to the 16th lok Sabha elections. Notwithstanding the fact that all BJP candidates were first-timers to the parliamentary polls, the party snatched all seven seats from the Congress to finish 7-0 in the city.
As a strong ‘Modi wave’ swept across the Capital, the Aam Aadmi Party’s impact too was neutralised as all BJP leaders won by at least one lakh votes. Delhi became one of the only five States in the country where the neither of the Opposition parties could open their accounts. A beleaguered Congress appeared nowhere in contest and finished third in all seven constituencies. Most of the sitting Congress MPs, including Kapil Sibal and Ajay Maken did not even turn up at the counting centres indicating that they had already accepted their defeat.
The BJP’s performance in Delhi is a re-run to the 1999 lok Sabha poll results when the party had bagged all seven seats under leadership of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The BJP’s performance since then deteriorated in subsequent elections but this poll results not only gave party the much-needed impetus but also bolstered its prospects for a possible re-election to the Delhi legislative Assembly.
Delhi BJP president Dr Harsh Vardhan promptly credited the victory to the prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who is all set to become India’s next Prime Minister. “Modi’s vision and our party’s strategy has led us to victory. It was Modi’s magic that has acted as a catalyst for the party workers and leaders,” said a beaming Vardhan, who defeated his rival and Congress heavyweight Kapil Sibal from the prestigious Chandni Chowk lok Sabha seat. Sibal, the two-time sitting MP and a powerful Minister in the outgoing UPA Government, was pushed down to the third slot; AAP’s Ashutosh finishing up as the runner-up.
Another Congress candidate Ajay Maken met the same fate in New Delhi parliamentary constituency who stood at the third position. BJP’s Meenakshi lekhi finished on the victory lap winning the seat with 1.62 lakh votes. Aam Aadmi Party’s Ashish Khetan was second. All BJP candidates except Udit Raj in North-West Delhi maintained their lead from the first round till the end. He defeated his nearest rival Rakhi Birla of Aam Aadmi Party by a margin of 1.06 lakh votes.
BJP’s West Delhi candidate Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma won the seat with the biggest margin of 2.68 lakh defeating Jarnail Singh of AAP. The South Delhi seat was also wrested by BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri, who defeated AAP’s Col Devinder Sehrawat by 1.07 lakh votes. In East Delhi, BJP’s Maheish Girri crushed AAP’s Rajmohan Gandhi and Congress’ Sandeep Dikshit. The victory margin here was 1.90 lakh votes. In Northeast Delhi, Bhojpuri actor Manoj Tiwari was at the first place.
