In a huge setback for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), BJP candidate Shikha Roy came back from behind to defeat former Delhi minister and senior leader Saurabh Bharadwaj, who was leading by a healthy margin of over 3,000 votes in the first round, in the Greater Kailash constituency.
Roy wiped out Bharadwaj's lead and went ahead in the fifth round of counting, going ahead by more than 3,000 votes. During the final rounds, Roy consolidated on her lead as her margin swelled up to nearly 4,000 votes with only three rounds to go. After 14 rounds of counting, Roy held on to her lead and handed a surprise defeat to Bharadwaj by 3,139 votes.
With this loss, Bharadwaj joins a long list of other senior AAP leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia among others, who lost their strongholds to the BJP.
As per Election Commission data, Congress's Garvit Singhvi was at a distant third, losing by nearly 43,000 votes.
South Delhi's Greater Kailash constituency is one of the key seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly. In the lead-up to the elections, BJP sprang a surprise by fielding two-time BJP councillor Shikha Roy against the veteran AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj.
Meanwhile, BJP is set to return to the Delhi Assembly after a long hiatus of 27 years. Currently, the BJP is ahead in 48 seats, way past the magic number of 36 seats. On the other hand, AAP is lagging behind with only 22 seats.
