Haryana election results: BJP sees opportunity in Delhi, Congress too draws positives

NEW DELHI: The outcome of the Haryana Assembly polls has surprised all parties, with BJP now hoping to replicate the success in Delhi where the elections are due early next year, while Congress, which failed to reach the majority mark, too, wished to draw some positives from the result.
Both BJP and Congress have been out of power in Delhi for several years now and yearning to improve on their past performances this time.In over 30 years since the Delhi legislative assembly was reconstituted in 1993, BJP had its govt just once, from 1993 to 1998. Congress, which governed the capital for three consecutive terms till 2013, failed to win even a single seat in the last two elections. Both the parties seem desperate to turn around their fortune in the elections around four months later.
Delhi and Haryana share a long border and a large number of people living in the capital, especially in rural pockets, trace their roots to the farm state. Political experts agreed that the politics in Delhi always got impacted by the developments in Haryana. Beating the anti-incumbency, BJP is all set to form third consecutive govt in the neighbouring state. BJP functionaries said it would give a huge boost to the morale of the party workers in Delhi, who are working on the ground.
Ravi Ranjan, a professor of political science in Delhi University's Zakir Husain Delhi College, said the workers of both BJP and Congress would be motivated by this result while the outcome might prove slightly negative for AAP. "The impact will be seen on at least 15-20 seats of Delhi that neighbour Haryana," Ranjan said.
AAP routed BJP in 2015 and 2020 the Delhi assembly polls, winning 67 and 62 seats, respectively, while Congress drew a blank in both.
BJP functionaries said the result in Haryana was a victory of development and public welfare policies. "While reposing their trust in the leadership of PM Modi, people of Haryana rejected the opportunistic politics of AAP. Our party workers will take this message to the electorate of Delhi," said South Delhi MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri.
Though it failed to form govt in Haryana, the vote share of Congress saw a huge jump of 11%, which, said party functionaries, has boosted the morale of the workers in the national capital. "The result will definitely have a huge impact on the election in Delhi. Though there is disappointment of not being able to form govt, the outcome has been positive and it will reflect in Delhi polls too," said Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav.
AAP functionaries agreed that no election could be taken lightly. AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal warned his party workers against "overconfidence". Citing the Haryana results, he asked municipal councillors to refrain from infighting and work together for victory in the upcoming elections.
A senior functionary, however, said BJP won the Haryana elections in 2014 and 2019, but those results didn't sway Delhi. "Delhi votes for the politics of work, not empty promises," the functionary added.