Jubilant BJP hopeful for Assembly polls but sees dip in victory margins in LS polls

NEW DELHI: In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured all seven seats in Delhi, marking a third consecutive victory in the national Capital.

However, compared to the 2019 general elections, the BJP saw a noticeable dip in victory margins but the party remains hopeful for the Assembly elections too.

Yogendra Chandoliya, a first-time contestant from the Northwest Delhi constituency, emerged with the highest victory margin among all BJP candidates, defeating Congress’ Udit Raj by 2.90 lakh votes. This was significantly lower than the top margins in 2019, which ranged from 2.28 lakh to 5.78 lakh votes.

In West Delhi, BJP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat won against AAP’s Mahabal Mishra by a margin of 1.99 lakh votes. Meanwhile, Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of the late Sushma Swaraj, made her political debut by defeating AAP’s Somnath Bharti in the New Delhi seat with a margin of 78,370 votes, the lowest among all winning BJP candidates. She replaced outgoing MP and Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi.

Manoj Tiwari, the BJP candidate from Northeast Delhi, achieved a hat-trick by defeating Congress’ Kanhaiya Kumar with a margin of 1.38 lakh votes. Ramvir Singh Bidhuri won the South Delhi seat with a margin of 1.24 lakh votes. 

In Chandni Chowk, BJP’s Praveen Khandelwal triumphed over Congress veteran J.P. Agarwal by 89,325 votes. Harsh Malhotra from East Delhi defeated AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar by 93,663 votes.

Despite anti-incumbency sentiments, the BJP managed to overcome the combined Opposition of AAP and Congress. The AAP acknowledged the tough battle, stating that their candidates put up a strong resistance against BJP’s “politics of hatred and dictatorship.”

“We are happy that Muslim voters in Delhi also voted for BJP. Our candidates have won in all constituencies and this will have a positive impact in the assembly elections too,” a senior BJP party member said.

“People have now started seeing the AAP and its corrupt practices through the liquor scam. The people will bring in BJP in the assembly elections and sweep out the corrupt party,” he added.

The election saw a slight decrease in the number of ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA) votes, totalling 45,554 compared to 45,629 in 2019. The highest number of NOTA votes was in the Northwest Delhi constituency with 8,984 votes, while the lowest was in New Delhi with 4,813 votes. Other constituencies recorded the following NOTA votes, Chandni Chowk (5,563), Northeast Delhi (5,873), East Delhi (5,394), South Delhi (5,961), and West Delhi (8,699).

The voter turnout in Delhi was approximately 58.70 per cent, excluding postal ballots. Northeast Delhi saw the highest turnout at 58.30 per cent, while New Delhi had the lowest at 51.54 per cent. The turnout in other constituencies was: South Delhi (52.83 per cent), Chandni Chowk (53.27 per cent), East Delhi (54.37 per cent), Northwest Delhi (53.81 per cent), and West Delhi (54.90 per cent).