CM Arvind Kejriwal during a rally in Bawana. Express photo by Gajendra Yadav
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) trounced both the BJP and the Congress to win the Bawana Assembly bypoll. AAP candidate Ram Chander beat his nearest BJP rival Ved Parkash by 24000 votes, capturing 45 % of the vote-share. Congress candidate Surender Kumar ended up in third spot despite leading in the first 11 rounds of counting. However, the party has doubled its vote-share.
The bypoll was necessitated by Prakash, who was the sitting AAP MLA from Bawana, crossing over to the BJP. At the end of 28 rounds of counting, Chander got 59,886 votes followed by Parkash with 35834 votes and Kumar with 31919 votes.
This victory in Bawana will be sweet for the AAP, which had a disappointing start to the year with defeats in both Punjab and Goa Assembly elections. In Punjab, the party ended up in second spot behind the Congress. In Goa, the party could not open its account. These defeats were then followed by a setback in the Municipal Corporation polls in Delhi where the party was soundly defeated by the BJP which gained majority on its own in all three corporations.
A victory in Bawana for Congress would have been its entry into the Assembly after it drew a blank in the Assembly election two years ago. Even though the party candidate Surender Kumar, former MLA from Bawana, led in the first 11 rounds of counting, he fell back later ending up in third spot.
Bawana, located in northwest Delhi, is a big constituency with ample share of both rural and urban voters. There are a large number of migrant labourers staying in numerous JJ clusters. In 2015, it was one of the 67 seats won by the AAP in a landslide victory.
