Early trends point to the Aam Aadmi Party’s key candidates leading in important constituencies. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, contesting from New Delhi constituency, is leading against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Sunil Yadav by over 20,000 votes.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has retained the Patparganj seat by 3,207 votes. A founding member of the AAP, Mr. Sisodia holds the education, finance and tourism portfolios in addition to his post as Deputy CM.
The AAP’s Atishi Marlena is leading in Kalkaji constituency . Ms. Marlena was the AAP’s candidate against BJP MP Gautam Gambhir in East Delhi during the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Kapil Mishra of the BJP — who tweeted the controversial comparison of the Delhi elections to a contest between India and Pakistan, and was censured by the ECI — is trailing against the AAP’s Akhilesh Tripathi by over 11,000 votes. Mishra defected to the BJP from the ruling party in 2019 and even campaigned for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress’ Arvinder Singh Lovely , who also contested unsuccessfully against Mr. Gambhir, is trailing in the Gandhi Nagar constituency. Mr. Lovely, who was a Minister in the Sheila Dikshit government, had jumped ship to the BJP in 2015, only to rejoin the Congress in 2018, calling himself an “ideological misfit” in the saffron party.
Former Chandni Chowk MLA Alka Lamba , who rejoined the Congress in 2019, has barely over 3,400 votes, as against the AAP’s Parlad Sawhney’s 45,800-odd vote count. Ms. Lamba had earlier quit the Congress in 2014, after a 20-year stint in the party, but returned to it terming Mr. Kejriwal as an “autocrat... never listens to AAP workers and elected representatives of the party”.
Newcomer Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga of the BJP is trailing behind the AAP in Hari Nagar. Mr. Bagga physically assaulted lawyer Prashant Bhushan in 2011, for the latter’s remarks supporting a plebiscite in Jammu & Kashmir. He has also been a Delhi BJP spokesperson since 2017, after gaining prominence by running social media campaigns in favour of the party.
In Okhla constituency, where the Shaheen Bagh protests have been taking place, sitting MLA and member of the AAP’s national executive Amanatullah Khan is leading by a massive margin of close to 77,000 votes. The constituency also includes Jamia Nagar where protests and violence took place.
Incumbent MLA and former Delhi BJP chief Vijender Gupta is leading in Rohini — a seat that the BJP has held for over a decade, with only a brief loss to the AAP in 2013. His margin, is a little over 12,600 votes.
One of the AAP’s youngest leaders Raghav Chadha, who is contesting from Rajinder Nagar, has won. Mr. Chadha campaigned for the seat by reminding people that he is a “local boy” who grew up in the area.
AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj is also leading in Greater Kailash constituency with a margin of over 16,000 votes. The AAP candidate had earlier beaten the BJP’s Ajay Kumar Malhotra and Rakesh Guliya in 2013 and 2015, respectively, with huge margins.
