New Delhi: The BJP is likely to make the most of the triangular contest in Delhi, with most exit polls predicting a clean sweep of all seven Lok Sabha seats for the ruling party at the Centre.
The NDTV Poll of Polls, which took an average of all exit polls telecast Sunday evening after the final phase of the elections, predicted six seats for the BJP and one for the Congress. The BJP had won all 7 in 2014.
Triangular contest helped BJP
The forecasts came as no surprise as Delhi’s ruling Aam Admi Party and the Congress had decided to contest separately after the failure of prolonged seat-sharing negotiations. The BJP had a clear edge in a triangular contest as the other two parties ate into each other’s vote banks.
Although the AAP was keen on a pre-poll alliance with the Congress, Arvind Kejriwal’s insistence on similar alliances in Punjab, Haryana and Goa had put a spanner in works. A section of Delhi Congress leaders, including state unit chief and former CM Sheila Dikshit, were against a tie-up with the AAP, the party that had dislodged Dikshit’s government from power in 2013.
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If the Congress were to gain even one seat in Delhi, as predicted by some pollsters, these leaders would claim to be vindicated, especially if the Congress were to emerge as the runner-up in terms of vote-share, relegating the AAP to the third position when the official results come out Thursday.
The AAP has shown a consistent slide since early 2017, losing a series of polls — first to the Congress in Punjab and then to the BJP in Rajouri Garden bypoll and the Delhi municipal elections. If the party fails to open its account in Delhi, it would be a big setback to the ruling party as the assembly elections in the national capital are due next year.
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