NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal suffered a major electoral defeat in his stronghold, losing to Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Parvesh Verma by 3,182 votes.
Verma, the son of former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma, defeated Kejriwal in a significant setback for the AAP leader, who rose to prominence through the anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare.
Kejriwal’s defeat reflected AAP’s overall performance in the Delhi elections, with early trends indicating a decisive BJP victory.
The Election Commission declared that AAP’s Virender Singh Kadian won the Delhi Cantt seat by a margin of 2,029 votes. The BJP’s Rekha Gupta won the Shalimar Bagh seat, defeating her AAP rival by 29,595 votes.
AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar won the Kondli seat by 6,293 votes, while BJP’s Manjinder Singh Sirsa secured Rajouri Garden by 18,190 votes.
The BJP is poised to form a government in Delhi after more than 26 years, with the latest Election Commission (EC) trends showing the saffron party ahead in 45 of the 70 assembly seats and AAP in 21.
