BJP freshers Gambhir, Hansraj win unprecedented mandates
New Delhi: The 2019 Lok Sabha election in Delhi saw BJP freshers Gautam Gambhir and Hansraj Hans replacing incumbent MPs Maheish Girri and Udit Raj from East and North-West Delhi respectively and contest elections for the first time.
Both the newcomers surprised political observers in the Capital and outdid their predecessors by securing huge margins in their respective seats.
Gambhir defeated his closest opponent Arvinder Singh Lovely of Congress by a margin of more than 3.90 lakh votes while Hans decimated AAP's Gugan Singh by a massive margin of more than 5.53 lakh votes, with a vote share of 60.47 percent.
Atishi was left in the third position in East Delhi with only about 17 percent of the total votes polled coming to her.
Atishi and Gambhir were ensued in a campaign battle that the media lapped up like nothin else in the weeks leading up to the polls. This included the row over derogatory and sexist pamphlets about Atishi's character, which the AAP accused Gambhir of circulating. Moreover, Hans' candidature was also marred by a controversy that was started after incumbent and rebel BJP MP was not awarded a ticket to contest from North West Delhi and had subsequently joined the Congress.
Both the candidates ran on the platform of works done by the Modi government in the last five years and stand testament to what can happen when someone has the right party and prime ministerial candidate backing them up.
Both Gambhir and Hans however, also touched local issues while campaigning on the ground. Even though the two BJP freshers had the least amount of time to campaign among the candidates in the Capital, they took full advantage of Narendra Modi's name and personality that drove BJP's victory in 2014.
While their victories have given them an unprecedented mandate in their respective seats, it still remains to be seen how they fare as parliamentarians, what they can do for their electorate, and whether they can go beyond party lines to represent the people who voted for them.
