New Delhi: Debutant BJP candidate and party spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga is trailing from Delhi’s Hari Nagar constituency by over 10,400 votes, according to Election Commission trends as of 3.20 pm Tuesday.
The AAP looked set to retain the constituency for a second consecutive term, albeit with a different candidate, Raj Kumari Dhillon. The seat was won by Jagdeep Singh in 2013 and 2015.
On Tuesday afternoon, as Dhillon’s lead widened, Bagga congratulated the AAP, which seemed headed for another clear victory in the national capital.
“Hearty congratulations to Arvind Kejriwal and all the workers of the Aam Aadmi Party,” he tweeted.
अरविंद केजरीवाल जी और आम आदमी पार्टी की सभी कार्यकर्ताओं को हार्दिक बधाई https://t.co/3j6qFjXbMw
— Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) February 11, 2020
He also tweeted his “heartfelt thanks” to all the voters of the Hari Nagar constituency.
The BJP social media star was one of the party’s most prominent candidates in the Delhi elections. Just two days before the 8 February election, Home Minister Amit Shah held a road show campaigning for him in Hari Nagar.
Thank you @AmitShah ji for your Blessings pic.twitter.com/mAQxwz6Vlh
— Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) February 6, 2020
In the run-up to the elections, a confident Bagga had reportedly walked into the AAP’s Hari Nagar office on 5 February to seek the support of AAP workers.
#Alert – BJP's Hari Nagar candidate Tejinder Pal Singh Bagga visits Aam Aadmi Party office to seek support of party workers.#BattleForDelhi
[? – @TajinderBagga] pic.twitter.com/s93SsB2Y6c
— CNNNews18 (@CNNnews18) February 5, 2020
BJP’s social media warrior
Bagga, a social media warrior of the BJP, has 6.5 lakh Twitter followers, many of whom joined him on the campaign trail.
While Bagga was trolled for not making it to the first list of candidates, he found his name in the second list released late 20 January. After his name was announced, BJP Twitter handles made #Bagga4HariNagar trend, and his campaign song “Bagga, Bagga har jagah” flooded social media and radio.
The controversial Delhi BJP spokesperson has a history of disrupting events and getting into scuffles — from allegedly barging into the chamber of Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan and assaulting him, to heckling author Arundhati Roy at her book launch.
A member of the BJP since he was a teenager, Bagga rose to prominence in 2013, when he led the ‘Modi-fying’ India campaign backing Narendra Modi as the next PM.
In 2015, he was one of the 150 “super-exclusive social media influencers” — the #super150 — with whom PM Modi held a private interaction. He was made BJP’s Delhi spokesperson in 2017.
‘Two veterans vs newcomer’
AAP’s Jagdeep Singh won Hari Nagar in 2013 and retained the seat in the 2015 elections. But AAP has replaced Singh with Dhillon, who has served as a ward councillor of Hari Nagar and was formerly affiliated to the Congress.
The Congress candidate from the seat, Surinder Setia, too, is a well-known face in the area. This was thus seen as a fight between two veterans and a relatively new face, Tajinder Bagga.
Hari Nagar, a Sikh-dominated constituency, wasn’t Bagga’s first choice. Having spent a major part of his life in Tilak Nagar, Bagga was eyeing a ticket from there, but the BJP chose to go with Rajiv Babbar, son of former MLA O.P. Babbar.
During campaigning, Bagga talked of reducing pollution in the constituency by installing a smog tower, and ensuring the safety of women by starting self-defence training classes for them.
Also read: Tajinder Bagga — BJP’s Twitter warrior aims to win Delhi seat ‘that doesn’t know him’