Delhi Assembly election results: BJP crosses 2015 vote share in early rounds of counting
The BJP had secured 32.1 per cent vote share in 2015, and AAP cornered 54.3 per cent.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already crossed the vote share mark in Delhi, in about three hours of counting. According to trends released by the Election Commission at 11 am, the BJP has a vote share of 40.5 per cent, and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has garnered 51.6 per cent vote share so far.
So far, 16 per cent votes have been counted.
The BJP received 32.1 per cent vote share in 2015, and AAP cornered 54.3 per cent of vote share. So, it’s a gain of nearly eight per cent for the BJP and a loss of about three per cent for AAP.
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The BJP had campaigned aggressively for the February 8 Assembly election, and banked on the image and policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Union Home Minister Amit Shah led the campaign charge for the party in Delhi, and addressed a number of rallies. He also conducted door-to-door campaigns.
The main election issue for BJP, which centred its campaign around nationalism, was the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA protest in south Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh. The BJP tried to corner AAP over the protests saying they support such things and lashed out at the Delhi government for inconvenience caused due to closure of road connecting south Delhi with Noida.
As voting for the Delhi assembly elections ended on Saturday evening, five exit polls predicted a comfortable victory for the AAP, with the party expected to win anything between 47 seats (Times Now-Ipsos poll), which was the lowest estimate, to 68 seats (India Today-Axis poll), which was the highest estimate, in the assembly of 70 members.
Most polls expected the BJP to improve its performance from the last assembly elections, when it won just three seats, but the party was far behind the incumbent. The lowest estimate for the party was two seats (India Today-Axis) and the highest 23 (Times Now-Ipsos). The BJP, however, rejected the exit poll predictions and said they will form the government in Delhi.
Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari even said that the party can win 55 out of 70 seats.
Delhi saw a small dip in voter turnout compared to the 2015 assembly polls, when a record 67.47 per cent voters exercised their choice. On Monday, the Election Commission announced the final voter turnout as 62.59 per cent.