New Delhi: Ruling Congress on Thursday received
a jolt in the national capital when it lost two assembly seats
earlier held by it, as BJP wrested one while the RJD opened
its account in the city.
In Dwarka constituency, BJP candidate Parduymn Rajput
defeated his Congress rival Tilotma Choudhary by a margin of
11,365 votes while in Okhla seat RJD's Asif Mohd Khan emerged
victorious over BSP's Braham Singh by more than 5000 votes.
Congress candidate Farhad Suri came third in the
Muslim-dominated constituency, getting 17,804 votes while RJD
and BSP polled 23,394 and 18,387 votes respectively.
In Dwaraka, Rajput polled 35,891 votes against
Choudhary's 24,526 votes.
With the defeat in the bypolls to the two seats, the
Congress' tally in the assembly has reduced from 42 to 40
while BJP's total strength increased from 23 to 24. The RJD
has opened its account for the first time in the city.
The by-poll in Dwarka was necessitated after sitting
Congress MLA Mahabal Mishra was elected to the Lok Sabha from
West Delhi seat while the election in Okhla was conducted
after sitting MLA Pervez Hashmi was elected to Rajya Sabha.
The setback for the Congress in the national capital
came almost 10 months after the party registered a historic
win retaining power for the third consecutive term.
In Okhla, various factors resulted in the Congress'
defeat, including the NCP fielding Ram Singh Bidhuri, a former
Congress leader, and Hashmi's supporters reportedly not
working in favour of Suri after the leadership refused to give
ticket to a person of the Rajya Sabha MP's choice.
Khan had lost the last assembly election by a narrow
margin of 400 votes to Hashmi.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, September 17, 2009, 20:04