In a major setback to newbie Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the BJP and the Congress on Monday managed to retain five and two seats respectively in the Delhi Cantonment Board elections. The newbie AAP, which had won the Delhi Cantonment seat in the last Assembly poll, could grab only one of the total eight seats.
The Cantonment Board results came as a major blow to the AAP whose vote share decreased by about 14.83 per cent in comparison to the Assembly elections. Interestingly, the vote share of the Congress increased by 11.36 per cent in comparison to the last Assembly elections, the votes secured by the BJP decreased by about 2.09 per cent.
The Delhi Cantonment seat had witnessed a photo finish of sorts during the last Assembly elections, which had resulted in the victory of AAP’s Surender Singh over BJP’s Karan Singh Tanwar, with a little over 300 votes. The voter percentage polled by different parties in the Cantonment Board elections is being interpreted in the political circles as the beginning of the fall of the AAP in city politics.
Traditionally, the Delhi Cantonment Assembly seat has been a stronghold of the BJP. It was BJP’s Karan Singh Tanwar who first won the seat by securing 23,260 votes against Congress’ candidate Kiran Chaudhary, who got just 14,391 votes in 1993. But Chaudhary won the seat by defeating Singh by a margin of over 3,000 votes in 1998 elections. Again, it was Singh who defeated Chaudhary by a margin of about 4,000 votes in 2003 polls. The BJP candidate again won the seat in 2008 election, but this by beating new Congress candidate Ashok Ahuja by over 7,000 votes.
Those who won the elections are BJP’s Priyanka Choudhury, Rachna Kadiyan, Kavita Jain, Jagat Singh and Narender Choudhury, Congress’ Sandeep Tanwar and Vimal Chaudhary and AAP’s Nand Kishore. In the last elections, the BJP had secured five seats, Congress two and one was won by an independent candidate, who had later joined the BJP.
Political pundits feel that the Cantonment board results do not present an overall mood of the city but it gives one a clear indicator of how things may unfold during the February 7, Assembly elections. The Congress which was the only party to gain over 10 per cent vote share in the board elections had bagged 14 seats by securing 34.5 per cent votes in the 1993 polls. The party got 52 seats by securing 47.8 per cent votes in 1998 elections, 47 seats by polling 48.1 per cent votes in 2003, 43 seats by getting 40.3 per cent votes in 2008 and was reduced to just eight seats by getting 25.3 per cent votes in the last elections.
Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay said the Delhi Cantonment Board results clearly showed that the BJP was the first choice of the people of Delhi. “The voters have shown that they do not believe in the fractured mandate. Delhi believes in Prime Minister Narender Modi’s slogan — Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas. In the last Assembly elections, the BJP and its allies had won 32 seats by securing 33 per cent votes, AAP got 28 seats by getting 29 per cent votes and the Congress won eight seats by polling 24.50 per cent votes. But in the recent lok Sabha elections, the BJP secured 46 per cent votes and registered its victory in 60 of the 70 Assembly segments which fall under the seven Parliamentary seats. The AAP, which got 32 per cent votes, could wrest its control over the remaining 10 assembly seats. The Congress, which secured just 15 per cent votes, could not register its win even in a single seat.