New Delhi: Avadh Ojha of the Aam Aadmi Party had a disastrous electoral debut as he lost to Bharatiya Janata Party’s Ravinder Negi by a margin of 28,072 votes in the Patparganj assembly segment.
The AAP and the BJP candidates got 45,988 and 74,060 votes, respectively. Anil Chaudhary of the Congress came a distant third with 16,549 votes.
“It’s my personal defeat. I couldn’t connect to people. I had very less time, one month. I’ll meet the people and will contest the next election from here,” Ojha told the media.
An educationist-turned-politician, Ojha joined the AAP in December last year. Only a few weeks after his joining, the party fielded him from Patparganj after shifting senior leader Manish Sisodia to Jangpura.
In Patparganj, the BJP fielded its local leader, Ravinder Negi, who had secured at least 66,956 votes in the 2020 assembly polls but lost to Sisodia by a small vote margin of 3,207. The small margin was supposed to be a major reason behind shifting Sisodia to another seat, as the party was looking for a safer seat for him, according to party sources.
On the other hand, the Congress fielded its former state chief Anil Chaudhary, who represented the constituency from 2008-13. He is trailing by 53,613 votes.
During his campaign, Ojha promised a big transformation in the field of education in Patparganj. He envisioned transforming Patparganj into a coaching hub, such as Kota—a place where youth from across Delhi could come to pursue competitive exams with world-class infrastructure. Ojha also promised to revamp local roads to match the quality of those seen in foreign cities.
On the other hand, Negi kept the whole campaign on local issues. In his speeches, he mentioned that as Sisodia ran away from the fray, Ojha would similarly leave Patparganj.
In one of the rallies in Patparganj, Negi touched PM Modi’s feet, followed by Modi touching his feet back thrice. This video went viral on social media, which boosted Negi’s campaign.
Patparganj has nearly 2.27 lakh electors, with significant numbers of Purvanchali and Pahadi electors in the seat.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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