New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal lost the New Delhi constituency to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Parvesh Verma Saturday. A neck-and-neck contest was underway between him and Verma in the high-profile constituency from where Kejriwal won the past three Delhi Assembly elections.
Kejriwal was pitted against sons of two former Delhi CMs—Parvesh Verma, the son of Sahib Singh Verma, and Congress’s Sandeep Dikshit, son of Sheila Dikshit.
As of 1:46 pm, Verma was leading with a margin of 4,089 votes with all 14 rounds counted.
Conceding defeat, Kejriwal said, “We will continue to stand with the people of Delhi in their happiness and sorrow. I commend AAP workers. They worked very hard and fought well.”
Verma, speaking to the media, said the government that will be formed in Delhi will bring Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “vision to Delhi”.
“I give credit for this victory to PM Modi. I thank the people of Delhi. This is the victory of PM Modi and the people of Delhi.”
In 2020, Kejriwal won the New Delhi seat by a gap of over 21,000 votes, defeating BJP’s Sunil Yadav. The AAP leader has represented the seat since 2013. Before that, Sheila Dikshit had won the seat thrice—in 1998 and 2003, when it was called the Gole Market constituency, and in 2008, when it was renamed as the New Delhi constituency post delimitation.
Parvesh Verma represented the West Delhi constituency in the Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019 and also won the Mehrauli assembly seat in the 2013 elections. His father served as the chief minister of Delhi between 1996 and 1998.
While the BJP did not name a chief ministerial candidate in its poll campaign, Parvesh Verma is being viewed as one of the strongest contenders for the position if the party comes to power. The party has been out of power in the national capital since 1998.
What was once being projected as an easy contest for Kejriwal turned into a high-octane battle following the entry of Parvesh Verma and Sandeep Dikshit into the poll fray.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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