The Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiromani Akali Dal combine on Thursday registered a huge victory in the Rajouri Garden Assembly by-election here, handing a humiliating defeat to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party which finished a distant third. AAP's poor performance also lead to its candidate losing his deposit.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the candidate of the BJP-SAD combine, secured 40,602 votes on the way to victory. He defeated his nearest rival Meenakshi Chandela of the Congress by a margin of over 14,000 votes.
Data from the Election Commission stated that Chandela managed a total of 25,950 votes; while AAP's Harjeet Singh could eke out a mere 10,243 votes of the total 78,091 votes cast during by-election on April 9. Nearly 1,300 votes were divided among the other contestants.
The seat had fallen vacant after the previous MLA from AAP Jarnail Singh resigned to contest the Punjab Assembly polls on February 4.
Sirsa had won from Rajouri Garden in the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections, but lost to Jarnail Singh in the 2015 polls by margin of over 10,000 votes.
Elated by its victory in Rajouri Garden Assembly bypolls, the BJP said that people had given the AAP a "fitting gift" by defeating it. The party, it said, was on the verge of extinction.
"Earlier, they lost Punjab and Goa Assembly polls and today's (Thursday's) result of the Rajouri Garden assembly by poll is like the last nail in the coffin for AAP. It is on the verge of extinction," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.
The BJP leader also tweeted: "AAP and Kejriwal have not just lost their deposit, they have (also) lost their credibility."
Patra said that Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal never thought about the welfare of Delhi's people. "Neglecting Delhi people, Kejriwal went to Punjab and Goa for assembly elections. Now the residents of Delhi have neglected him," said Patra.
Reacting to AAP's performance, Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that voters of Rajouri Garden constituency were angry over AAP lawmaker Jarnail Singh's resignation to contest the Punjab Assembly elections, which led to the party's poor show in the by poll.
"People in Rajouri Garden assembly constituency were angry after Jarnail Singh resigned. We tried to make them understand, but it seems they are still angry with the AAP," Sisodia said.
However, he said it was just a by poll and that "we will keep preparing for the coming elections".
The Rajouri Garden Assembly by poll on Sunday witnessed a poor turnout, as only 47 percent people came out to vote. In the 2015 Assembly elections, when the AAP had swept to power by winning 67 of the 70 Assembly seats, the constituency had seen 72 percent voting.
Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken termed the Rajouri Garden by poll result a "referendum" on the Kejriwal government in Delhi.
Maken said that the AAP's vote percentage had fallen by four times than its vote share in the last election, while the Congress' vote share increased three times its earlier figure in the constituency. "We have jumped from 12 percent vote share for the constituency to 36 percent in just two years," Maken said.