Cong heading for hatrick in Delhi

New Delhi, Dec 9 (PTI) Congress headed for a hatrick
Monday in Delhi having bagged 28 out of 43 seats, results for
which were available, leaving its rival Bhartiya Janata Party
(BJP) way behind with 13 seats.

Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit and five of her
cabinet colleagues were among the successful candidates of
Congress in the keenly contested electoral battle for the
70-member House.

Dikshit, Chief Minister for past ten years, got
39,747 votes defeating BJP's Vijay Jolly by a margin of 14,078
votes. This is her third consecutive win in the Assembly
elections, this time from the newly created New Delhi
constituency following delimitation.

Om Prakash Chautala-led Indian National Lok Dal (INLD)
sprang a surprise by winning Najafgarh seat while Bahujan
Samaj Party (BSP) bagged the Gokulpuri seat.

"There is no anti-incumbency rather there is always
pro-incumbency," Dikshit said as Congress headed for a
historic third term in power in Delhi.

"I congratulate the people of Delhi and many many thanks
to them for their support and affection for the Congress," she
added as jubilant party supporters danced to drumbeats and
burst firecrackers.

Conceding defeat, BJP chief ministerial candidate Vijay
Kumar Malhotra said the party's performance in the elections
to the State had not been up to the expectations.

"It is our defeat. The results in the Assembly polls have
not been on expected lines. We will certainly review why our
candidates could not win in some seats that were considered
our stronghold," Malhotra told reporters here.

The constituencies where the ruling party won included
Uttam Nagar, Adarsh Nagar, Model Town, Chattarpur, Jungpura,
Dwarka, Kondli, Deoli, Seemapuri, Kalkaji, Gandhi Nagar,
Ambedkar Nagar, Mangolpuri and Malviya Nagar.

The BJP victory came in Shalimar Bagh, Bijwasan, Palam,
Trilokpuri and Delhi Cantt.

Ministers A K Walia (Laxmi Nagar), Raj Kumar Chouhan
(Mongolpuri) and Arvinder Singh Lovely (Gandhi Nagar) were
among the winners from the Congress camp besides former
Speaker Subhash Chopra (Kalkaji).

Lovely romped home with a huge margin of 31,925 votes
while Walia's victory margin was 17,208.

Those who won with plus 10,000 vote margin included
Congress' Mahabal Mishra (Dwarka -- 13,981 votes), Ravinder
Singh Lovely (Deoli -- 16,628), Vir Singh Dhingan (Seemapuri
-- 19,268) and Amreesh Singh Gautam (Kondli -- 14,983).

INLD's Bharat Singh was another candidate in this
category by defeating Congress' Kawal Singh Yadav by 12,453
votes. PTI AJ
PMR
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