By Nivedita Singh
New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) The vote share of Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the 2019 general elections has shrunk to just 18 per cent, from 32.90 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, with the party slipping to the third position in five of the seven constituencies and three of its candidates losing their deposits as well.
The vote share of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) this time went up to 56.58 per cent, from last time's 46.40 per cent, as it retained all the seven seats here.
The vote share of the Congress also went up from 15.10 per cent in 2014, to 22.46 per cent this time.
The AAP came second in all the seats in Delhi in 2014. The Congress, which was third in all seven seats in 2014, came second this time in five seats and lost its deposit in one seat.
In the 2013 Assembly polls, while the Congress had secured a vote share of 24.55 per cent, the BJP had secured 33.07 per cent, and the AAP had got 29.49 per cent. The AAP and the Congress then joined hands to form Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's 49-day government.
In 2015 Assembly polls, the AAP bagged 67 out of 70 seats and its vote share jumped to 54.34 per cent. The BJP's vote share was roughly the same at 32.19 per cent, while that of Congress dropped to 9.65 per cent
Speaking about the change in vote percentage, AAP leader Gopal Rai on Friday said the Congress has not found any new voter support in Delhi in this election.
"The vote share of the Congress went up as it took away the anti-BJP votes," Rai said.
On being asked why the AAP could not bag these votes, he said it was because people were clear that AAP was not projecting a prime ministerial candidate, but Congres was.
"People were shown that it was (Narendra) Modi for the PM post and if not Modi, it was Rahul Gandhi," he said.
The BJP this time won all the seven Lok Sabha seats here with margins ranging between 2.2 lakh and 5.7 lakh votes. In 2014, the margin ranged between 1.06 lakh and 2.68 lakh votes. While the saffron party has re-nominated five of its seven MPs, it named two new faces.
The BJP won the West and the North West Delhi seats with a margin of over 5.5 lakh.
In West Delhi, sitting MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma won with the highest margin in the city -- 5,78,486 votes -- against Congress' Mahabal Mishra.
Last time too, Varma had won the seat with the highest margin in the city -- 2.68 lakh votes. The BJP MP bagged the seat with 8,65,648 (60.05 per cent) votes, while Mishra got 2,87,162 (19.92 per cent) votes.
Out of the total 14,41,601 votes cast, AAP's Balbir Singh Jakhar came third with 2,51,873 (17.47 per cent) votes.
In the North West Delhi Lok Sabha seat, singer-turned-politician Hans Raj Hans, a fresh face for Delhi, won the seat with a margin of 5,53,897 votes against AAP's Gugan Singh.
Hans Raj Hans bagged the seat with 8,48,663 (60.49 per cent) votes and Gugan Singh came second with 2,94,766 (21.01 per cent) votes. Congress' Rajesh Lilothia was third with 2,38,882 (16.88 per cent) votes.
The BJP also retained the East Delhi, South Delhi and North East Delhi seats with margins of over 3.5 lakh votes.
Cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir won the East Delhi Lok Sabha seat in his debut for the BJP by a margin of 3,91,222 votes over his Congress rival and former Delhi Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely.
While Gambhir bagged 6,96,156 (55.35 per cent) votes, Lovely got 3,04,934 (24.24 per cent) votes.
AAP's Atishi was third with 2,19,328 (17.44 per cent) votes out of 12,57,821 votes. In 2014, Maheish Girri had won the seat with a margin of 1.90 lakh votes.
Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari won the North East Delhi seat with a margin of 3,66,102 votes against former Delhi Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Sheila Dikshit.
While Tiwari got 7,87,799 (53.9 per cent) votes, Dikshit was second with 4,21,697 (28.85 per cent) votes.
Out of the total 14,61,475 votes cast in North East Delhi, AAP's Dilip Pandey came third with 1,90,856 votes (13.06 per cent), losing his deposit.
In 2014, Tiwari had bagged the seat with a margin of 1.44 lakh votes.
Sitting MP Ramesh Bidhuri retained his South Delhi Lok Sabha seat with a 3,67,043-vote margin, which was only 1.07 lakh votes in 2014.
Bidhuri, who bagged the seat with 6,87,041 (56.58 per cent) votes, was contesting against AAP's Raghav Chadha, who came second with 3,19,971 (26.35 per cent) votes.
Congress' celebrity face and international boxer Vijender Singh lost his deposit as he only got 1,64,613 (13.56 per cent) votes, out of 12,14,222 votes in South Delhi.
In New Delhi, the BJP won with a margin of over 2.5 lakh votes. Sitting MP Meenakshi Lekhi won the seat with 5,04,206 votes (54.77 per cent) against Congress' Ajay Maken, who got 2,47,702 votes (26.91 per cent).
AAP's Brijesh Goyal got 1,50,342 (16.33 per cent) out of the total 9,20,541 votes. He lost his deposit.
Last time, Lekhi had bagged the seat with 1.62 lakh votes.
The BJP won the Chandni Chowk seat with the least margin of 2.2 lakh votes.
Sitting MP and Union Minister Harsh Vardhan had won the 2014 elections with a margin of 1.36 lakh votes.
Out of the total 9,80,390 votes cast this time in Chandni Chowk, the Minister won the seat with 5,19,055 votes (52.94 per cent).
The Congress' J.P. Agarwal came second with 2,90,910 votes (29.67 per cent).
AAP's Pankaj Gupta lost his deposit and bagged 1,44,551 votes (14.74 per cent).
(Nivedita Singh can be contacted at nivedita.singh@ians.in)
--IANS
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