If general election was swept by the Modi wave, Delhi assembly election certainly witnessed a Kejriwal hurricane. The Modi juggernaut has been bamboozled as his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was restricted to a mere three seats in Delhi. Indian National Congress’ decimating journey took one step forward; they failed to open their account, such was the story of National Capital on 10 February, 2015. Historians and political authors will have to mark this date as historical as any.
A two year old party lead by an ex IIT-ian won 67 of 70 seats contesting against two of the largest national political parties in India. About a year ago on 14 February, 2014 Arvind Kejriwal resigned from the Chief Minister’s post and President’s rule was forced on the capital of world’s largest democracy. Many predicted it as the end of Aam Admi Party (AAP) and Arvind Kejriwal’s political career. Exactly a year later he is all set to take the oath again as the Chief Minister of Delhi, as Delhiites give him a historical mandate.
Few note worthy points of the Delhi elections are:
· The largest opposition party is BJP with three seats, which means Delhi will be legislation without opposition.
· BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi lost to advocate S K Bagga in her Krishna Nagar Constituency.
· Three BJP candidates to win a seat were Om Prakash Sharma, Jagdish Pradhan and Vijender Kumar.
· Congress failed to open its account and its Chief Ministerial candidate Ajay Maken was defeated by AAP’s Som Dutt in Sadar Bazar constituency.
· BJP’s vote share almost remained the same. It was 34.12 per cent in 2013 and this time it is 33.80 per cent.
· AAP’s vote share witnessed a substantial hike. During the 2013 assembly election it was 29.64 per cent, whereas the 2015 vote share increased to 53.30 per cent.
· Congress suffered the worst decline in vote share. They were reduced to 8.60 per cent from 24.67 per cent in 2013.
Indian media covered the ‘election day’ with esteemed sophistication. Every channel deployed huge number of reporters on field to cover each and every development. Media houses decorated their websites with innovative designs. NDTV uploaded ‘Sirf AAP,’ Arvind Kejriwal’s dream result right after the trends indicated a AAP sweep. Aaj Tak had an animation of Arvind Kejriwal ecstatically dancing. Times Now’s #Feb10withArnab was trending on Twitter.
Prominent public figures used social media to share their reactions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first to post a reaction. “Spoke to @ArvindKejriwal & congratulated him on the win. Assured him Centre's complete support in the development of Delhi,” Modi tweeted.
Kiran Bedi also posted her reaction. “Full marks to Arvind. Congratulations. Now take Delhi to the heights it belongs to. Make it a world class city,” she tweeted.
Journalists too used social media to share their opinion. NDTV’s Vikram Chandra tweeted, “I can't recall seeing a 95% majority before. 3 lonely lotuses in a sea of jhaddus. #sirfAAP isn't just a hashtag today. #NDTVResults.”
Veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai posted, “67 of 70 Congress candidates lost their deposits. 60 per cent wins more than 10,000 votes. #AAPSweep.”
Social activist Anna Hazare in an interview to CNN said, “Kiran Bedi not responsible for BJP's defeat, Narendra Modi is.”
The man of the hour Kejriwal dedicated his victory to party volunteers. He tweeted, “Volunteers. U did an amazing job. Relax for 2 days. Spend with your family. Sleep. Watch movies. Meditate. Chill. God bless u.”
The Aam Aadmi has won yet again!
