The final outcome of East Delhi lok Sabha seat has hammered the Congress more than any other party. From the very beginning it was pretty visible who was going to win the battle royal as body language of Congress candidate Sandeep Dikshit said it all.
Maheish Girri, the candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) moved with a swagger while a suave Rajmohan Gandhi of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was a picture of composure for having given a good fight to the BJP. Sandeep Dikshit had won East Delhi in 2004 and 2009 by huge margins and those were the heady days of his mother Sheila Dikshit’s Government in Delhi. This time round, the dice was heavily loaded against him and the Modi wave demolished whatever resistance his party could offer.
As the counting progressed, Girri’s smile got broader while Dikshit had appeared to have resigned to his fate. “We expected to lose Delhi but getting defeated in this manner has hurt us. We will sit down and analyse the reasons behind this defeat. We lacked in propagating Manmohan Singh Government’s achievements and could not read the resentment among the people.” On being asked what lied in store for his as far as his political future was concerned, Dikshit said it is up to the party to decide. Dikshit’s loss was apparent as the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were opened. Girri established a lead of 10,000 votes in the first round itself over Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Rajmohan Gandhi. It kept on widening with every passing round and by the fifth round it was more than 24,000 votes.
AAP was giving a tough fight in all the Assembly segments while Congress lagged far behind. Girri’s lead swelled to over 50,000 by the end of the seventh round. It became abundantly clear Girri was going to wrest the seat from Congress making his supporters more jubilant.