Atishi among 5 women candidates emerge victorious in Delhi polls

Delhi Assembly polls: Five women candidates, including the outgoing Chief Minister Atishi, secured victories in the Delhi Assembly elections this time, a decline from the eight who won in 2020.

Atishi was the sole female candidate from AAP to emerge victorious. She successfully defended her Kalkaji seat, defeating BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri by a margin of 3,521 votes.

Meanwhile, four women candidates from the BJP—Rekha Gupta from Shalimar Bagh, Poonam Sharma from Wazirpur, Neelam Pahelwan from Najafgarh, and Shikha Roy from Greater Kailash—clinched wins in their respective constituencies.

Among the 699 candidates contesting this election, 96 were women. In the previous 2020 Assembly elections, 672 candidates had participated, with 76 being women, out of which eight had secured victories.

The three major political parties—BJP, AAP, and Congress—fielded more women candidates this time compared to 2020. Both BJP and AAP nominated nine women each, while Congress fielded seven.

On Saturday, the BJP returned to power in Delhi after more than 26 years, defeating Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party with a two-thirds majority. The victory was driven by a hyper-localised campaign and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘AAP-da’ (disaster) onslaught.

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Meanwhile, the Congress failed to secure any seats in the Delhi Assembly, with its candidates consistently trailing behind AAP and BJP, and in some cases, even ranking fourth. In Patel Nagar, Congress candidate Krishna Tirath finished third, as AAP’s Pravesh Ratn triumphed over BJP’s Raaj Kumar Anand by approximately 4,000 votes. Similarly, in Narela, Congress’ Aruna secured third place behind BJP’s Raj Karan Khatri and AAP’s Sharad Kumar, while in Janakpuri, Harbani Kaur also placed third, following BJP’s Ashish Sood and AAP’s Parveen Kumar.

In Okhla, Congress candidate Ariba Khan finished in fourth place, with AAP’s Amanatullah Khan leading, followed by BJP’s Manish Chaudhary and AIMIM’s Shifa Ur Rehman Khan. Likewise, Pushpa Singh also placed fourth in Mehrauli, where BJP’s Gajender Singh Yadav emerged victorious.

(With inputs from PTI)