Pravesh Verma of the BJP won the West Delhi Lok Sabha seat by a record margin of 2,68,586 votes, setting a new record of victory margin in the general election in Delhi.
Mr. Verma, son of former Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma, attributed his victory margin to the “Modi wave and his father’s legacy”, his margin was also boosted by the votes garnered by the two namesakes of AAP candidate Jarnail Singh, who together polled over 90,000 votes.
While one of the two Jarnails, who contested as Independents, secured 84,722 votes, the other Jarnail got 5,960 votes – thus increasing the victory of Pravesh Verma by around 90,000 votes. Mr. Verma secured 6,51,395 votes. The official candidate of the AAP meanwhile secured 3,82,809 votes and secured the second place in West Delhi parliamentary seat.
Mr. Verma broke the previous record of victory margin set by outgoing East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit, who won by a margin of 2.41 lakh votes in 2009.
While Mr. Dikshit had conceded defeat on Thursday itself, party candidates in West Delhi of both the Congress and the AAP did not turn up at the counting Centre in Dwarka.
Vinay Mishra, son of Congress candidate Mahabal Mishra, was, however, present at the counting centre with other Congress workers. Even he chose to leave the counting centre only after a few rounds of counting and the numbers hinting at a big loss for the Congress.
Published - May 17, 2014 10:55 am IST