Delhi Election Results: AAP MLAs and Ministers Failed to Convince Voters in Their Own Assembly Seats

The Aam Aadmi Party failed to open its account in Delhi for the third consecutive Lok Sabha elections despite an emotive campaign over the shock arrest of Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal on charges of corruption.

There are 10 Assembly segments in each of the seven Lok Sabha constituencies of Delhi. A look at the performance of three MLAs — Sahiram Pehelwan, Somanth Bharti and Kuldeep Kumar — the AAP fielded in Lok Sabha elections shows two of them failed to get enough votes from their own Assembly constituencies. Barring the New Delhi Assembly seat represented by Kejriwal, the Assembly constituencies represented by AAP’s former and jailed ministers also didn’t back the party in the Lok Sabha elections.

AAP ministers who were able to ensure a good showing for the party in their Assembly constituencies are Gopal Rai from Babarpur and Imran Hussain from Ballimaran. Star performers like MLA Sanjeev Jha could not stem the staggering loss of support for Congress’s North East candidate Kanhaiya Kumar.

Somnath Bharti, AAP MLA from the Malviya Nagar constituency, was the party’s great hope in the Lok Sabha elections from the New Delhi seat. The three-time MLA from Malviya Nagar polled nearly 4,000 votes fewer in his own Assembly constituency than BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj. In the New Delhi Assembly segment, which Kejriwal represents, the AAP was ahead of the BJP by 2,262 votes.

In the Greater Kailash Assembly segment, which is represented by AAP minister Saurabh Bhardjwaj, Bansuri Swaraj zoomed ahead by 18,000 votes. Former AAP minister Raaj Kumar Anand, who contested on a BSP ticket, got just 5,629 votes in all the 10 Assembly segments put together in the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat.

In the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, the AAP had put up Kuldeep Kumar, its Kondli MLA. But Kumar was 1,500 votes behind BJP’s Harsh Malhotra in his own Assembly segment. In the Patparganj Assembly constituency, which former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia represents, the BJP was ahead by over 29,000 votes. The two constituencies where the AAP was at the No.1 spot are Okhla and Jungpura. Okhla, represented by Amanatullah Khan in the Delhi Assembly, was most rewarding.

The battle for Chandini Chowk Lok Sabha seat was fought between Congress’s JP Agarwal and BJP’s Praveen Khandelwal. Former AAP Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain represents the Shakur Basti Assembly seat which falls in the Chandini Chowk Lok Sabha constituency. Of the 10 Assembly segments in Chandni Chowk, Jain’s Shakur Basti pulled the lowest number of votes for the AAP-Congress alliance at 29,934. As a result, JP Agarwal lost to BJP’s Praveen Khandelwal by nearly 30,000 votes. The three Assembly segments where Agarwal pulled ahead of Praveen Khandelwal were Chandni Chowk, Ballimaran, and Matiamahal. Ballimaran is represented by AAP minister Imran Hussain.

In the West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, AAP’s Mahabal Mishra took on BJP’s Kamaljeet Sherawat. Of the 10 Assembly segments here, just two — Rajouri Garden and Tilak Nagar – voted more for Mishra. Dhanwanti Chandela and Rajkumari Dhillon are the AAP MLAs from Rajouri Garden and Hari Nagar. Mishra, former Congress leader, failed to get more votes than his rival even from Najafgarh, which is the AAP minister Kailash Gahlot’s Assembly seat.

North East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency saw a battle between Congress’s Kanhaiya Kumar and BJP’s Manoj Tiwari. AAP’s Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha had won his seat in the Assembly elections by the highest margin. Yet, in these Lok Sabha elections, which saw a joint campaign by the AAP and Congress, Kanhaiya Kumar was routed in Burari by a staggering 76,700 votes. In Timarpur, represented by AAP MLA Dilip Pande, BJP got 13,300 more votes. Assembly segments were the AAP did better than the BJP have a significant minority population — Mustafabad, Seelampur and Babarpur. The last of these happens to be AAP minister Gopal Rai’s Assembly seat.

In North West constituency, Congress candidate and former MP Udit Raj took on BJP’s Yogender Chandoliya. Narela, Badli, Rithala, Bawana, Mundka, Kirari, Sultanpur Majra, Nangloi Jat, Mangolpuri and Rohini are the Assembly seats under this Lok Sabha constituency. Udit Raj polled more votes than his rival in just one– Sulatnpur Majra. He lagged behind even in Mangolpuri, the Assembly seat of AAP’s Rakhi Bidlan, Deputy Speaker in the Vidhan Sabha, who was winning it successively for last three Assembly elections.

In the South Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, BJP MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri took on AAP MLA Sahiram Pehelwan. Pehelwan is the only MLA fielded by the AAP to have scored better than the BJP rival in his Assembly segment. The Tughlakabad MLA polled 13,000 more votes in his Assembly segment than Bidhuri. But Pehelwan got 12,000 fewer votes than Bidhuri in AAP MLA Atishi’s constituency Kalkaji.

The 2014 and 2019 election results showed that while Delhi rejects the AAP in the Lok Sabha elections, it rewards the party handsomely in the Vidhan Sabha polls. AAP failed to open its account in Delhi in 2014 and 2019 as far as Lok Sabha elections were concerned, but went on to win 67 and 62 of the 70 seats in Delhi elections. With Delhi elections to take place next year, it’s time for the AAP to saddle up.