- Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal looks to be heading back to power as early results show a big win for his party in the Indian capital.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal looks to be heading back to power as early results show a big win for his party in the Indian capital.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is leading in more than two-thirds of the 70 seats.
Delhi voted on 8 February after an aggressive campaign that pitted the AAP against India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The results are a setback for the BJP after it won a landslide in general elections last year.
The BJP’s campaign saw heavyweights such as Home Minister Amit Shah take to the Delhi streets to woo voters but that appears to have had little impact on the outcome.
The latest results show the AAP leading in 58 seats, while the BJP is ahead in just 12.
Mr Kejriwal, 51, is a former anti-corruption campaigner who first became chief minister in 2013 and then re-elected in 2015 with a landslide.
He has been credited with turning around Delhi’s government-run schools, establishing affordable neighbourhood clinics and providing cheap water and electricity. He has also consistently campaigned for greater autonomy for the state, as control of its police force and land still rest with the federal government.
His win is a “triumph of welfarism and effective governance”, says the BBC’s India correspondent, Soutik Biswas.
Celebrations are underway outside the AAP office where party workers told BBC Hindi the win vindicates their decision to campaign hard on “governance and development”, and refrain from “divisive politics”.
The BJP, on the other hand, focused its campaign on criticising a peaceful gathering of thousands in Shaheen Bagh – a largely Muslim neighbourhood in Delhi – which has been protesting against India’s controversial new citizenship law, known as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Many Indians say the law discriminates against Muslims.
The vigil became a central plank of a campaign which was bitterly fought.
The BJP painted the protesters – largely comprising Muslim women – as dangerous traitors who wanted to break up the country. And they alleged that the AAP was supporting them, a tactic which did not chime with voters.
Two MPs campaigning for the BJP were removed from a list of “star campaigners” for their comments, which included one of them telling supporters to “shoot the traitors”.
On Tuesday women, men and children held a silent protest at Shaheen Bagh, many wearing black gags around their mouths, reports the BBC’s Rajini Vaidyanathan who was at the vigil.
“Polarisation is a tried and tested method that has won the BJP elections in the past. But the million-dollar question is, will it also work in Delhi?” political commentator Neerja Chowdhury had earlier told the BBC.
Early results show that the AAP’s Amanatullah Khan is leading comfortably in Okhla, a seat that includes Shaheen Bagh.
The AAP’s impending win is proof that “real nationalism is to work for the people,” Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told the NDTV news website.
The BJP has only marginally improved its tally from 2015, when they won only three seats as the AAP swept to victory. The latest figures showed it leading in only eight seats.
The Congress party, which won no seats last time, appears to have drawn a blank this time too.
At last year’s general election the BJP won all seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi.
