Election Results 2024: Supporters throng BJP HQ, leaders remain absent
By Saurav Gupta/Kushan Niyogi/Idrees Bukhtiyar
As the final verdict of Lok Sabha elections was passed in Delhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saw itself go through with flying colours, maintaining its dominance across the seven constituencies in the national capital.
Effects of the results were seen across the board with Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) office being left empty, as party cadres and senior leaders stayed away.
Arvind Kejriwal’s party won only three seats in Punjab and none in Delhi. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s incarceration and release from jail in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case failed to make an impact in the Lok Sabha elections, especially in Delhi.
Even a dholak player, who had come for the MCD elections in in 2022, left for better prospects at the Congress office, stating that there were no celebrations at AAP office.
Though BJP swept all the seven constituencies in the national capital, it couldn’t do enough at the national level to claim full majority on its own.
The celebrations, therefore, were subdued at the party headquarters as the ‘400 paar’ narrative failed to materialise.
“There was a call for ‘400 paar’ (over 400 seats) but it was just a slogan. The aim was to form a clear majority government and that is what we have achieved,” said Chandrashekhar Joshi, with the saffron flag fluttering high.
It was only by late evening that the BJP headquarters seemed to come alive when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is set to lead the country for the third successive term, entered the party office to a rousing welcome with supporters waving party flags and chanting the PM’s name.
“The people of the country have expressed their trust in the NDA for the third consecutive time. This is an unprecedented moment in the history of India. I thank my family for their love and blessings. I assure the countrymen that to fulfil their aspirations, we will move forward with new energy, new enthusiasm, and new resolve,” thundered PM Modi while addressing the party workers at the headquarters.
Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of late BJP veteran Sushma Swaraj, made an impressive Lok Sabha debut by emerging victorious from the New Delhi constituency against AAP’s Somnath Bharti with a margin of 78,370 votes.
Also Read: Election Results 2024: Bansuri Swaraj makes winning debut
Initially, as the counting of votes commenced, Chandni Chowk constituency witnessed a fierce battle between BJP and Congress. However, BJP’s Praveen Khandelwal eventually claimed victory over veteran Congress leader Jai Prakash Agarwal by 89,325 votes.
BJP MP Manoj Tiwari won for the third time from the North East Delhi seat, defeating Congress youth leader, Kanhaiya Kumar with a comfortable margin of 1.38 lakh votes.
Also Read: Election results 2024: BJP’s Manoj Tiwari wins North East Delhi 3rd time in a row, Kanhaiya loses
Tiwari later expressed gratitude to PM Modi, senior party leaders, and the constituents for their support.
He acknowledged their blessings.
In the South Delhi constituency, former MP Ramesh Bidhuri’s brother, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri emerged victorious with a margin of 1,24,333 votes. Bidhuri was pitted against AAP’s Sahiram Pehalwan.
Bidhuri, commenting on saffron party’s landslide victory in the Capital, attributed it to electorate’s frustration with the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government, asserting that Delhiites perceived Kejriwal as a deceiver.
In North West Delhi, Yogender Chandolia from the BJP emerged victorious by defeating former BJP MP and now Congress MP candidate, Udit Raj, with a clear margin of 2,90,849 votes.
In East Delhi, BJP MP candidate and former East Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Harsh Malhotra claimed victory over AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar with a margin of 92,926 votes.
In West Delhi, Kamaljeet Sehrawat claimed victory for the BJP by a margin of 1,96,573 votes against AAP’s Mahabal Mishra, who had previously represented the constituency for Congress in 2009.
Also Read: Lok Sabha Polls 2024: BJP wins West Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party a distant second
AAP and Congress had shared Delhi seats among them this time. The former had decided to contest on four seats while the latter was contesting on three.
Despite the unsatisfactory results in Delhi, Congress was excited over its nationwide results.
The party workers and supporters had a grand celebration at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters at Akbar Road.
Congress senior leader and MP Rahul Gandhi thanked the people of India for Congress party’s resounding comeback.
“The main thing that this election has said, the country has clearly and unanimously stated – we do not want Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to be involved in running this country. We do not like the way they have run this country. We do not appreciate the way they have attacked the Constitution. That is a huge message to Narendra Modi,” said Gandhi in a press conference at the party headquarters.
Workers and supporters including women were seen dancing on the beat of the drums (dhol).
Mehtab Hindustani, a Congress party worker, said that they are hopeful of forming government.
“Rahul Gandhi is winning by a huge margin and we are hopeful that we will form the government,” he said.
Gandhi was mobbed by a huge gathering of his fans and supporters because of which he exited the office from another gate amid tight security.
Change in vote share
Although AAP didn’t win any Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, their vote share went up by almost six percent compared to the 2019 polls.
Their vote share increased to 24.14% from 18.2% in 2019. In the 2014 elections, their vote share was 33.1%.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh said that the party, despite facing adverse circumstances, had given a tough challenge to the BJP in Delhi.
“In Delhi, we gave a strong fight to the saffron party and the results are far better this time than in 2019,” said the Rajya Sabha member.
The BJP, despite winning all seven seats, saw a decrease of nearly two percent in their votes since 2019.
The Congress, which also didn’t win any seat, experienced a drop of over three percent in their vote share from the 2019 elections.
The final vote share numbers might change slightly after the Election Commission releases the complete data. BJP’s vote share this time was 54.33%, allowing them to secure all seven seats for the third consecutive time. In 2019 and 2014, their vote shares were 56.7% and 46.6%, respectively.
The voter turnout for the May 25 Lok Sabha polls in Delhi was 58.69%, with around 89.21 lakh voters casting their ballot out of a total of 1.52 crore eligible electors.
In neighbouring Ghaziabad, part of the NCT of Delhi, Atul Garg of the BJP emerged victorious with 8.5 lakh votes. Similarly, in Faridabad, another constituent of the NCT of Delhi, Krishan Pal of the BJP secured the highest vote count with over 7.8 lakh votes.
Dr Mahesh Sharma of the BJP triumphed in Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida) with a vote count exceeding 8.5 lakh.
BJP’s Rao Inderjit Singh won the Gurgaon Lok Sabha seat, beating Raj Babbar of Congress.
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