AAP’s Durgesh Pathak wins Delhi’s Rajinder Nagar assembly by-election

AAP’s Durgesh Pathak won Rajinder Nagar assembly by-election by over 11,000 votes defeating BJP’s Rajesh Bhatia on Sunday.

Since counting of votes began this morning, AAP gained a lead which it consolidated as more votes were counted towards the afternoon. Nearly 72,000 votes were polled for the by- election which saw 43.75% turnout on Thursday. The final result and count of voters will be declared in sometime by election officials.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal thanked the people of Rajinder Nagar saying that they had defeated dirty politics and supported the good work (of AAP). A group of AAP supporters are celebrating their victory outside the counting centre in Rajinder Nagar where they have gathered since morning.

The seat was vacated after sitting MLA Raghav Chadha resigned and was later elected to Rajya Sabha from Punjab. AAP MP Raghav Chadha thanked the voters. “I thank all the constituents of Rajinder Nagar assembly constituency for once again showering their love and blessing on AAP. Today’s by poll victory is an affirmation of the ‘Kejriwal Model of Governance.’ Best wishes to my brother Durgesh Pathak, as I pass on the baton to him,” Chadha said in a tweet.

Congress candidate Prem Lata got only over 2000 votes. In 2020, Chadha won the seat with over 20,000 votes defeating his closest rival RP Singh from the BJP.

Delhi BJP MLA Ajay Mahawar said the party leaders and the party organisation had worked very hard during electioneering and they got more votes than what that got in the 2020 election, but the result is unexpected. “We will conduct an analysis to find out the reasons of the defeat,” said the BJP leader.

The result will not affect the power equation in the Delhi assembly where the AAP holds a majority with 62 seats of the total 70, but will serve as a barometer of political influence in the national capital. Political pundits believe that since the poll was held after the unification of the municipal corporations, the result may be an indicator of the public mood. It was also the first election after the Covid-19 pandemic. A couple of BJP leaders also said that the recent anti-encroachment drives carried out in different areas of Delhi may have also antagonised a section of voters.

AAP considers the result as a referendum on the 2.5 years of the Kejriwal 2.0 government. BJP currently has 8 MLAs in Delhi assembly.

The result also indicates a declining graph of the Congress in Delhi, where it ruled till 2013. The party has not been able to send a legislator to the assembly since the 2015 assembly elections.

A BJP leader said the turnout in the by-election was low which may have also contributed to the party’s loss. In the 2020 assembly election, the turnout for the constituency was 58.3%. The by-election turnout was even lower than the turnout reported in the 2017 Rajouri Garden by-election (46.5%) and the Bawana by-election (44.8%).