Congress surprises AAP in Chauhan Banger, prevents clean sweep

NEW DELHI:  The Aam Aadmi Party may have won the municipal corporations bypolls on Wednesday but it was unable to increase its tally from the previous election. While it retained three wards and managed to wrest one from the BJP, it lost the Chauhan Bangar ward in North East Delhi. 

A victory for Congress in this minority-dominated seat has not only surprised the AAP but also given the party a cause to introspect.  The Congress, on the other hand, is claiming it as sign of its return to relevance in the national politics. 

In Chauhan Banger, the AAP’s vote tally went down to 5,561 from 8,830 in 2017, while Congress’ tally went up to 16,203 from just 6,488.  AAP’s Mohmad Ishraq Khan got the least votes among all the candidates from the party and finished 10,642 votes behind Chaudhary Zubair Ahmad- the biggest margin in these polls. 

According to sources in the AAP, the Delhi government’s handling of the Northeast Delhi riots last year might have caused some resentment among the Muslim voters in the area. The party will look into the reasons for the loss, they said. “You win some you loose some. This goes on in politics. Overall we have done very good in the bypolls,” said Deputy Chief Minister and party number two Manish Sisodia.