New Delhi: The Congress was decimated in the Delhi elections on Saturday, failing to open its account in the 70-member assembly for a third consecutive time and its key candidates suffering crushing defeats.
The only consolation, however, was a slight improvement in the party’s vote share, with leaders proclaiming that they would win back the trust of the people and exuded confidence of forming its government in 2030.
An early one segment lead in Badli was soon lost and the party, now a pale shadow of its glorious past under late chief minister Sheila Dikshit, failed to open its account once again.
Her son Sandeep Dikshit finished third in New Delhi segment where BJP’s Parvesh Sahib Verma defeated AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal by over 3000 votes. While Verma polled 25057 votes and Kejriwal 22057, Dikshit gathered just 3873, in a shock culmination of the Sheila Dikshit legacy. Sheila Dikshit was the chief minister of Delhi for three terms.
A majority of Congress candidates lost their deposits and only three of them managed to save them. These include Abhishek Dutt from Kasturba Nagar, who was the only Congress leader to finish second, Rohit Choudhary from Nangloi Jat and Devendra Yadav from Badli.
Most Congress candidates finished third after BJP or AAP, but in some even finished fourth after the AIMIM where they had put up its candidates in Muslim dominates segments.