After rollercoaster counting rounds, Atishi of AAP wins from Kalkaji against BJP’s Dharambir Singh – assembly elections

Atishi, the AAP’s candidate from Kalkaji assembly seat, on Tuesday beat her Bharatiya Janata Party rival Dharambir Singh by 11,333 votes in a battle of prestige for her party.

It was also being seen as a personal battle for the 38-year-old Atishi, known as an education reformist but not much political experience, as she looked at kick-starting her political career.

She had also unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections from East Delhi last year, securing the third place.

“It was clear that the people of Delhi had made up their mind about Arvind Kejriwal. They voted for him on the basis of what he did for Delhi,” AAP’s Atishi said.

“We have got an opportunity to work for the people of Delhi,” she said while speaking to reporters.

Moments after, Atishi also tweeted her gratitude to the citizens of the Capital city.

Thank you to all the people of Delhi for putting their faith in @AamAadmiParty and voting for politics of development.
In the last 5 years we have endeavoured to make Delhi’s Govt. Schools the best in the country and now we’ll make Kalkaji the best constituency in Delhi!

— Atishi (@AtishiAAP) February 11, 2020

“Thank you to all the people of Delhi for putting their faith in Aam Aadmi Party and voting for politics of development,” she tweeted.

Atishi also put forward her agenda for the next five years.

“In the last 5 years we have endeavoured to make Delhi’s Govt. Schools the best in the country and now we’ll make Kalkaji the best constituency in Delhi!” she said.

The veteran she defeated is Singh, who is head of the Delhi BJP’s booth-level management wing and was a councillor from Sriniwaspuri ward (2007-2012).

He had worked at the ward and district levels for years and unsuccessfully the contested assembly election from the constituency in 2013 on an AAP ticket. He had left the BJP after being denied a ticket in the assembly elections that year.

It was for the first time in more than two decades the BJP fielded its own candidate from Kalkaji. It had always given this seat to its old and trusted ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) — at least 50-55% voters belong to the Sikh-Punjabi community.