Delhi Elections: Even as Congress draws a blank, Jyotiraditya Scindia congratulates AAP

Even as his own party once again failed to open its account in the Delhi Assembly polls, senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday congratulated AAP on its victory. According to the Election Commission of India trends at 12.09 pm, AAP is leading from 58 constituencies. While AAP’s current vote share is 53.17%, Congress languishes at a dismal 4.10%. This is a further dip in performance for the Congress party which secured 9.7% of the vote in the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls. Scindia expressed hope that Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal would make the national capital cleaner and safer. 

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The steep decline for Congress

The 2020 Delhi Assembly polls mark further decline for Congress which was in power for three consecutive terms from 1998 under the leadership of the late Sheila Dikshit. In the 2013 election, its tally fell from 43 to just 8 seats as BJP emerged as the single-largest party. However, Harsh Vardhan refused to form the government as BJP did not have a clear majority in the 70-member House.  

Thereafter, there was a tectonic shift in politics as Congress agreed to extend outside support to AAP that had won only 28 seats. However, this arrangement did not sustain for a long time as Kejriwal resigned in February 2014. Since then, Congress has been unable to win a seat in either the Lok Sabha or the Assembly elections.  

Read: Delhi Polls Fight Between 'giant And Pygmy': Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Delhi poll campaign

Since the announcement of the Delhi Assembly polls, the national capital has witnessed a high-octane campaign mainly by BJP and AAP. Right at the outset, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made it clear that his party would focus on issues such as clean water, education, and health. He asserted that AAP would not indulge in negative campaigning. 

On the other hand, BJP refrained from naming any CM candidate. It named a newcomer Sunil Yadav to take on Kejriwal from the New Delhi constituency. In the last few days, BJP leaders sought to highlight AAP’s alleged role in instigating the Shaheen Bagh agitation. Finally, the electorate of Delhi registered their vote on February 8. As per the Election Commission of India, the total voter turnout was 62.59%- nearly 5% lower than the corresponding figures in the 2015 election. 

Read: Delhi Election: 'I Will Take Full Responsibilty For The Outcome', Says BJP's Manoj Tiwari