New Delhi:
Avadh Ojha, the popular civil services exam tutor, and one of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party’s more high-profile recruits ahead of the 2025 Delhi Assembly election, is trailing from the Patparganj seat.
Mr Ojha replaced senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia as the party’s pick for this seat; Mr Sisodia, who won in the 2013, 2015, and 2020 polls, was shifted to Jungpura to accommodate the new recruit. He is, though, trailing the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Ravinder Negi, with the Congress’ Anil Chaudhary third.
Patparganj was widely expected to be a ‘safe seat’ for Avadh Ojha, a feeling underlined by Mr Sisodia’s comments that the area is seen as “the heart of the education revolution in Delhi”.
READ | All About Avadh Ojha, UPSC Teacher Who Joined AAP
However, it has not transpired quite that way, with the BJP racing into a massive early lead as counting began this morning. At 9.40am, the saffron party was ahead in 50 of Delhi’s 70 seats.
Delhi Election Results LIVE | BJP Heads For Sweep, Huge Setback For AAP
The AAP, which won 67 seats in the 2015 election and 62 in 2020, is leading in just 19.
The Congress, blanked in each of the last two elections, is ahead in one.
Voting for the Delhi election took place on Wednesday.
Exit polls, which can be wrong, indicated a big win for the BJP, which has not ruled Delhi since 1998.
READ | BJP Set For Delhi ‘Wapsi’, Exit Polls Predict Big Election Win
The AAP, though, rejected the predictions and insisted it would form the government for a third consecutive time. Party leader Gopal Rai matched the BJP’s claim – that the party will get 50 seats.
The AAP, bidding for a third consecutive term, was given only an outside edge to win, after its election prep was hampered by party boss Arvind Kejriwal and Mr Sisodia, his second-in-command, being sent to jail on corruption charges (that are still unproven) linked to the liquor excise policy scam.
The ruling party has also had to fight off the BJP’s attacks on Mr Kejriwal’s image, with the focus on the ‘sheeshmahal‘ scandal. The allegation is that the AAP leader used Rs 45 crore of taxpayer money to refurbish, with luxurious fittings, the Chief Minister’s bungalow that he occupied when he held the post.
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