Bhojpuri movie actor and singer Manoj Tiwari won by a margin of over 1.40 lakh votes in North-East Delhi constituency with Aam Aadmi Party candidate Anand Kumar finishing second and sitting Congress MP J. P. Agarwal taking the third spot.
Though he was being considered a greenhorn and one of the weakest BJP candidates in Delhi, Mr. Tiwari proved his detractors wrong and despite a massive swing in votes in favour of the Aam Aadmi Party, primarily owing to its increased popularity among the Muslims, won by a comfortable margin. Mr Tiwari polled 5,96,125 votes as against 4,52,041 of AAP’s Prof. Anand Kumar. Mr. Agarwal could only manage to poll 2,14,792 votes.
Mr. Tiwari, who emerged as a clear winner in his debut election, kept a track of vote tallies inside the counting centre since morning along with mediapersons. After some initial anxiety, he grew confident after the trends started firming up.
At 6 p.m., when he was declared a winner, he addressed his supporters outside the counting centre at ITI Nand Nagri. “I am extremely delighted by the response that I have received from the voters. I will try my best to keep all my poll promises,” he said.
Talking about the main issues in the area, he said: “My priority will be de-congesting the roads here. Traffic issue is one of the main problems for people here. I will work on the construction of the Signature Bridge as soon as I take charge.”
“I will change the face of North-East Delhi completely,” he added.
Aam Aadmi Party candidate Anand Kumar, who finished second in the constituency, seemed satisfied despite not winning the seat. “I am happy that people were able to get rid of the Congress party and we emerged as the second party all over Delhi. I respect and thank the people who have voted for us. I will still continue to connect with the people in the same way.”
The Assembly seats where Aam Aadmi Party secured the maximum number of votes were Seemapuri, Seelampur and Burari.
