Aam Aadmi Party ( AAP) candidate Durgesh Pathak won Rajinder Nagar Assembly bypoll by the margin of over 11,000 votes defeating BJP's candidate Rajesh Bhatia on Sunday. Pathak got 40,319 votes (55. 76 per cent) while Bhatia managed to get 28851 votes
(39.91 per cent).
The victory margin was 11468 votes. A total of 545 votes went to NOTA’s account. The result will not affect the power equation in Delhi politics where the AAP holds a majority with 62 seats of the total 70 but will serve as a barometer of political influence in the national capital. This was the first election after the unification of the MCD and COVID 19 pandemic.
After the victory, Pathak said that this is Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s victory and a testament of support of for his work oriented politics. “Thank the people of Rajinder Nagar and all the workers of AAP from the bottom of my heart for this mandate.
People of Delhi have lost faith in BJP. The people defeated BJP’s dirty politics and appreciated our work. I Challenge BJP to conduct MCD elections , the people of Delhi kick them out in a blink,” Pathak said.
Since counting of votes began on Sunday morning, AAP gained a lead from the first round which it consolidated as more votes were counted towards the afternoon. After the first round of counting, Pathak got 3275 ( almost 64 percent) votes as against the BJP’s candidate Rajesh Bhatia who managed to get 1651 ( 32 percent ) votes.
The Election Commission’s data showed that at the end of the sixth round of counting, Pathak was leading over Bhatia by a margin of nearly 3,000 votes, which rose to over 5,000 by the end of seventh round and then further to over 10,000 votes at the end of ninth round of counting.
After the ninth round of counting, Pathak had secured 60.24 per cent of the votes counted, according to the official data shared by authorities.
The data showed that by the end of the 15th round, Pathak was leading with 10,911 votes over Bhatia. Pathak's lead was of 10,225 votes over BJP's Bhatia after 14 rounds of counting which rose to 10,911 votes after 15 rounds.
However, in the 13th round, Pathak's lead marginally dipped to 9,710 votes, but it rose to 10,225 votes in the 14th round of counting. After the 16th rounds of counting, Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Dr Ranbir Singh announced that all 16 rounds of counting have been completed. AAP candidate Durgesh Pathak has defeated his immediate rival Rajesh Bhatia (of BJP) by a margin of over 11,000 votes.
While AAP's campaign centred around the charisma of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and work done by Delhi government in the past seven years. The party went with the slogan Kejriwal ki sarkar, Kejriwal ka vidhayak (Kejriwal’s Government, Kejriwal’s MLA). AAP placed posters with slogan and tried to permeate a message that since AAP is at helm in Delhi, having an MLA of the same party raises their chances of the constituency’s issues being solved. AAP considers the result as a referendum on the 2.5 years of the Kejriwal 2.0 government.
Water supply issues and sub-standard road infrastructure were issues reigning in the minds of Rajinder Nagar residents who turned up to vote in the bypoll on Thursday.
Several people complained that the water situation in the area has not improved despite having Raghav Chadha, who was the vice-chairman of the Delhi Jal Board till March, as the MLA.
At the constituency, the contest was mainly between AAP and BJP. The Congress candidate Prem Lata could get only 2014 ( 2.79 percent) votes and forfeited her security. The Congress was largely missing, and their volunteers’ absence at many polling booths was conspicuous.
The result indicated the depleting graph of the party where it ruled for the 15 years. The vote share got the Congress is a clear indication that it has no chance in near future in Delhi electoral politics as its entire vote bank ( Muslim, dalit, scheduled castes and Youth) shifted to AAP.
In this election, the BJP has seen uptick in vote share from 37.70 percent in 2020 to 39.92 percent in 2022. Also the AAP has seen marginal decline in its votes. In 2020, BJP condidate RP Singh had secured 39077 votes while AAP's Raghav Chadha had got 59,135. The BJP needs strong leadership in Delhi who connects people. The state unit leadership marred with factionalism and weak leadership which led to defeat in Rajinder Nagar. The Rajinder Nagar seat fell vacant after sitting MLA Raghav Chadha resigned and was later elected to Rajya Sabha from Punjab.