The BJP registered a huge victory in the Rajouri Garden Assembly bypoll in the national capital on Thursday handing a humiliating defeat to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, which finished a distant third and even lost deposit.
BJP-SAD joint candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa bagged 40,602 seats, over 50 per cent of the total votes polled, in a boost for the saffron party ahead of the April 23 municipal polls. Congress’ Meenakshi Chandela finished second with 25,950 votes while AAP’s Harjeet Singh managed to get only 10,243 votes, less than one-sixth of the total votes polled, and lost deposit.
In terms of vote share, the Congress staged a turnaround of sorts by getting around 33 per cent of the total votes cast,in a jump of over 21 per cent over the 2015 Assembly polls. Around 47 per cent of the over 1.6 lakh electors of the west Delhi seat had cast their vote on April 9.
With the victory, the BJP’s tally in the 70-member Delhi Assembly will become four. The Congress does not have any presence in the House. The seat fell vacant early this year after AAP’s Jarnail Singh quit as MLA to contest the Punjab Assembly poll against SAD patron Parkash Singh Badal.
The BJP was quick to celebrate the massive win
And here is how other parties reacted:
AAP’s Dr Kumar Vishwas brought in some poetry :
And here are some other reactions:
(Feature image source: Twitter| Mrigank Tyagi)