Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijender Gupta, the leader of the opposition in the outgoing Delhi assembly and one of the three leaders from the party who won the polls five years ago, was trailing by over 1,700 votes in the Rohini assembly segment, according to early trends on Tuesday.
Jagdish Pradhan, another sitting legislator of the BJP, was leading by over 19,000 votes from Mustafabad assembly segment, trends showed at 11 am. In all, the BJP was leading in 15 of Delhi’s 70 seats at 11:30 am.
Of the three assembly segments the BJP won in 2015, the party was trailing in Rohini and Vishwas Nagar while it was leading Mustafabad. The BJP’s candidate from Vishwas Nagar, OP Sharma, was trailing by 445 votes
In Rohini, it is a prestige fight for the BJP as the seat is considered its stronghold. The AAP’s Rajesh Nama Bansiwala, who is contesting the assembly elections for the first time, is giving a tough fight to Gupta. On the other hand, the split in Muslim votes appears to have gone in favour of the BJP in Mustafabad, according to early trends.
In the polls, the BJP decided to field some strong local candidates such as three-time MLA SK Vats and four-time MLA Mohan Singh Bisht, who were leading from Shakur Basti and Karawal Nagar, respectively. There was a neck-and-neck contest in Shakur Basti, which is currently represented by PWD minister Satyendar Jain. Vats was leading by 51 votes. Bisht was leading by 6,253 votes.
In the Krishna Nagar assembly segment, which has been represented by Union health minister Harsh Vardhan in the past, the BJP’s candidate Anil Goyal was leading by 3,595 votes. The BJP lost the constituency for the first time in 2015. Back then, the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, contested Krishna Nagar, but lost to the AAP’s SK Bagga by 2000-odd votes.
