HUM AAP(KE) HAIN

New Delhi: Nine years ago, Arvind Kejriwal appeared into the political frame behind Anna Hazare during the Lokpal movement in 2011 before quickly enlarging his canvas, first as a Satyagraha activist and then as founder of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that took on the might of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to reclaim Delhi for a third time on Tuesday.

Kejriwal, engineer, civil servant and Delhi's man with a development agenda, is the David who slayed the mighty Goliath for the second time in five years.

The Kejriwal-led AAP won 62 of Delhi's 70 seats, leaving the BJP with eight and decimating the Congress, overcoming the saffron party's divisive campaign.

All prominent AAP ministers have won from their constituencies along with two important party faces — Raghav Chadha and Atishi.

The AAP held on to the nearly 54 per cent votes it had got in the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls, while the BJP bagged its second-best of 38.5 per cent votes in the Delhi Assembly polls and the Congress registered its worst-ever performance with its vote share slipping to four per cent.

According to the Election Commission (EC) figures, the AAP bagged 53.6 per cent votes in the Delhi Assembly polls, the results of which were declared on Tuesday. It had bagged 54.34 per cent votes in 2015 while in the Lok Sabha elections last year; the party scored 18 per cent.

On the other hand, the BJP bagged 38.5 per cent votes in the national Capital, compared to the 56 per cent that it registered in the Lok Sabha polls held in May last year. During last year's general elections, the BJP had won all the seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi, with a stronghold in 65 Assembly seats.

The vote share of the Congress in the Delhi polls is 4.27 per cent, which was 9.7 per cent in 2015 and in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it was 22.46 per cent.

Congress' performance touched a record low in the Assembly election this time with 63 of its candidates losing their deposits. After the Congress failed to open its account for the second time in Delhi, its chief Subhash Chopra tendered his resignation on Tuesday.

The party, which ruled Delhi for 15 years on the trot under former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, failed to open its account for the second consecutive Assembly election in Delhi.

Meanwhile, 51-year-old Kejriwal, who is considered to be the embodiment of the everyday man, emerged on the victory stage to loud cheers from his supporters and shouted Bharat Mata ki Jai, Inquilab Zindabad and Vande Mataram before saying "I Love You" to Delhiites.

The BJP's campaign saw heavyweights including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home minister Amit Shah along with around 240 MPs, 70 Union ministers and 11 state Chief Ministers take to the streets and address "nukkad" (street) meetings to woo voters but that appears to have had little impact on the outcome.