Delhi’s BJP MPs Gautam Gambhir and Parvesh Singh Verma on Tuesday afternoon said they accepted the assembly election results as AAP led in 57 of 70 seats in the capital on Tuesday, as of 1.50 pm.
Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari, who had begun the day with optimistic comments about the party’s chances in the election, hasn’t made a public statement in several hours. He had earlier asked party workers to not be dejected and wait for final results.
Gambhir congratulated Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on AAP’s victory and said BJP had “tried our best”.
Parvesh Sahib Verma, who had made vitriolic comments about Shaheen Bagh protesters during BJP’s election campaign, also said he accepted the results but deflected blame on the party’s performance.
Verma had been banned from campaigning twice by the EC, the second time for calling Kejriwal a “terrorist”.
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At the ending off polling on Saturday, Manoj Tiwari had said he was sure BJP would win 48 seats. He claimed the exit polls would be a “fail”.
On Tuesday morning, as counting began, he told the media, “Now, all talk is over. Now, we have to wait for the blessings of the people. I am confident it will be a good day for BJP. We are coming to power in Delhi today. Don’t be surprised if we win 55 seats,” he said.
Tiwari said preparations for celebration had begun at party offices. He also said he was ready to take responsibilities that the “victory” would bring and hailed the hardwork of the party workers who, he said, worked tirelessly for the victory.
Hours later, as trends indicated an AAP win in the capital, Tiwari addressed the media saying he was not nervous and asked BJP workers to not lose heart just yet.
Tiwari is also a Lok Sabha MP for Northeast Delhi.
According to PTI, exit polls had dampened spirits of the BJP with no arrangements made to celebrate a victory on Tuesday even as the mood was optimistic at AAP’s offices at ITO.
The mood in BJP was different from the one after voting in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Orders for special ‘Motichoor Cake’ and ‘Kamal Barfi’ had been made in advance to celebrate party’s victory after the announcement of results.
However, a top party leader told the news agency, “I do not think celebrations need elaborate arrangements. It’s only that we have decided to wait for the announcement of results this time. Celebrations can be arranged within minutes.”
Why BJP had said it was confident of win
Despite exit polls favouring an AAP win, Tiwari said he was confident the saffron party would win more than 45 seats and form government because the exit polls were “rough estimates”.
“Our confidence is based on a micro analysis of all the seats. The exit polls are rough estimates, I am confident that the BJP will form the government in Delhi with full majority,” he said.
Delhi BJP’s media relations head Neelkant Bakshi told PTI, “Our own feedback and analysis is contrary to the exit poll results. The exit polls were based on 39 percent votes polled till 3 PM and did not consider votes cast in last three hours.
“The exit polls missed the pulse of the people as they did not consider half of the total 62.59% votes polled on Saturday,” he said.