BJP introspects, Congress basks in glory of 10K-margin victory in Chauhan Bangar

New Delhi: While the Delhi BJP went into a self-reflection mode after the crushing defeat in the MCD bypolls held on Sunday, the Indian National Congress was happy to bask in the glory of its surprise victory in Chauhan Bangar, where it defeated the Aam Aadmi Party's candidate by a margin of over 10,000 votes.

Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said that the party realises the implications of the results and will work on its shortcomings. He said, "We will soon receive our internal feedback and we shall seriously think about our next steps (for the 2022 civic polls). Already we have been trying to do our best for Delhi residents. BJP party workers have worked with utmost dedication and honesty but we accept and respect the people's mandate. We will definitely try to improve our ground reach and performance."

Gupta went on to say that the party will hold meetings with ground-level workers from March 5 onwards to discuss strategies for next year's elections.

Meanwhile, Abhishek Dutt, INC councillor in SDMC and Delhi Congress leader, said that the party is grateful that residents had chosen to elect its party member from Chauhan Bangar. "In the last Vidhan Sabha elections, Congress had secured only a 4.5 per cent vote share. Now, after this election, our vote share has gone up to 20 per cent. We've won the Chauhan Bangar seat with a very convincing margin. The clear mandate is that the people of Delhi are voting against the Bharatiya Janata Party... People have realised what the Congress has done for residents and we're hopeful that they will give us a very good response."

Delhi BJP's Gupta, however, suggested that the AAP and Congress might have had an "arrangement". "In Shalimar Bagh (North), that we lost despite it being a stronghold of ours, makes me wonder if there was some kind of an arrangement between the AAP and Congress.

This seems like more of a friendly fight between the two, rather than a fairly fought election," he said.