It was a convincing victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the North-West Delhi constituency on Friday, with its candidate Dr. Udit Raj winning by a margin of 1,06,802 votes against his nearest rival, Aam Aadmi Party’s Rakhi Birla. Dr. Raj polled 6,29,860 votes while Ms. Birla got 5,23,058 votes.
Union Minister and two-time sitting MP Krishna Tirath had to settle for the third spot with 1,57,468 votes. She also forfeited her deposit in the process.
Dr. Raj led from the first round itself and by 10-30 a.m. had increased his lead to 44,732. Ms. Tirath resigned to the outcome early and left the venue saying: “People want change, they do not like having the same things. Even as sofa covers have to be changed once in a while, the same way people wanted to change me, that’s all. It was time for the furniture to change.”
By almost 2 p.m. when round 12 was announced with Dr. Raj leading by 79,579 votes, Ms. Birla also seemed to have given up and left saying: “It is the Modi wave that is sweeping across the city, that is why Dr. Udit Raj, an outsider, is able to win, if he does.” She, however, returned to the venue later and said: “There are still around three more lakh votes to count. I have not lost hope completely.”
There were a total of 21 counting rounds to be completed and by the time the 20 round had been announced, the supporters of Dr. Raj had already begun their sloganeering. Commenting on his win, Dr. Raj, a prominent Dalit leader who recently joined the BJP, said: “The living conditions of the people, the lack of sanitation and sewer facilities appalled me when I was canvassing in some of the areas. The lack of transport facilities is also a problem. I intend to extend the metro services to this part of the city, which has been neglected these 10 years.”
