Delhi Assembly Results: The BJP has returned to power in Delhi, ending the 10-year rule of the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP. The saffron party has bagged 44 seats and was leading on another 4, out of 70 seats. The AAP has won 22 seats. Out of these 70 seats, eyes were also on the seats dominated by the Muslim population. In the previous elections, especially in 2015 and 2020, AAP swept so-called Muslim-dominated seats, around 20 of them, snatching a majority of them from the Congress and some from the BJP.
Muslim-majority constituencies, around 30% of the total seats, play a crucial role in determining the overall outcome. It can also be said that Muslim-dominated seats are often proved to be kingmakers.
Here’s how the two key parties BJP and AAP performed in the Muslim-dominated constituencies in the Delhi election:
Okhla
AAP’s Amanatullah Khan defeated BJP’s Manish Chaudhary in Okhla by 23,639 votes.
Mustafabad
Another major Muslim-dominated seat is Mustafabad, where BJP’s Mohan Singh Bisht won by 17,578 votes against Adeel Ahmad Khan of the AAP. The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen candidate, Mohd. Tahir Hussain, ate into the AAP vote share, causing an upset for Kejriwal’s party.
Wazirpur
In Wazipur constituency, Poonam Sharma of the BJP won against Rajesh Gupta of the AAP. Sharma defeated the AAP leader by 11,425 votes.
Kasturba Nagar
In Kasturba Nagar constituency, the BJP’s Neeraj Basoya defeated AAP’s Abhishek Dutt by 11,048 votes.
Seelam Pur
In another Muslim-dominated seat of Seelam Pur, Chaudhary Zubair Ahmad of the AAP has defeated the BJP’s Anil Kumar Sharma by over 42,477 votes.
The BJP, as most exit polls predicted, has won comfortably the Delhi election, returning to power in Delhi after around 27 years. The Delhi election has left the AAP to do a lot of introspection as all its bigwigs lost, including the party’s convenor Arvind Kejriwal.