BJP heavyweights bite the dust in AAP sweep

NEW DELHI: It was a crushing defeat for the heavyweights including Chief Ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi of BJP, which was routed by the AAP in Delhi polls and could only manage three seats in the 70-member Assembly.

BJP's "trump card", former IPS officer Bedi, who was anointed as the party's face just three weeks ahead of the polls, lost from Krishna Nagar, considered to be a 'safe' seat. Bedi lost to Aam Aadmi Party's S K Bagga.

The Krishna Nagar constituency has been a stronghold of BJP with Harsh Vardhan winning it five times in the past.

Another new entry into the party was Krishna Tirath, a former Congress veteran who had joined BJP ahead of the elections causing much embarrassment to Congress.

The move, however, didn't work as Tirath lost to AAP's Hazari Lal Chauhan by a huge margin of 34,638 votes in Patel Nagar constituency.

Senior BJP leader Jagdish Mukhi, who had won from West Delhi's Janakpuri constituency for a record five times, lost to AAP's Rajesh Rishi, whom he had defeated in the 2013 poll.

Rishi won by a huge margin of 25,580 votes. Ram Vir Singh Bidhuri, former Delhi NCP President who was contesting from Badarpur area, lost to AAP's Narayan Dutt Sharma by a record margin of 47,583 votes.

Bidhuri had emerged victorious from the constituency in 1993, 2003 and 2013 Assembly elections.

The party had also fielded at least 10 municipal councillors including a current mayor and three former mayors from the BJP-led corporations.

Other prominent candidates who had to taste defeat in the Assembly polls include the current and former Mayor of North Delhi Municipal Corporation, Yogender Chandolia and Azad Singh.

Chandolia, who was in the fray from Karol Bagh constituency, lost to AAP's Vishesh Ravi.

Former North Delhi Mayor Azad Singh, who fought last Delhi polls from Mundka and lost, was again fielded by BJP and lost to AAP's Sukhvir Singh by a margin of 40,826 votes.

Though not seen as a heavyweight herself, Nupur Sharma who started as student leader with BJP's youth wing ABVP and was elected the DUSU President in 2008, was pitted against a heavyweight, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal in the high-profile New Delhi constituency and was defeated by 31,583 votes.

The three seats that the party has managed to bag include- Rohini, Mustafabad and Vishwas Nagar.

While Vijender Gupta won from Rohini, the Mustafabad and Vishwas Nagar seats have been bagged by Jagdish Pradhan and Om Prakash Sharma respectively.

Besides fielding the heavyweights, BJP had also launched a high-voltage campaign.

The BJP campaign had included five rallies by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which he mainly targeted AAP and appealed to the people to give him an opportunity for helping Delhi to reach new heights in development.

Eyeing a win here after a gap of 16 years, BJP had also roped in its fleet of Union Minsters to address rallies in the national capital and woo the voters.