Wave not over, Cong sweeps

NEW DELHI, February 24: The Bharatiya Janata Party's nightmare in Delhi is far from over. And the Congress celebrations that began in Nov...

NEW DELHI, February 24: The Bharatiya Janata Party8217;s nightmare in Delhi is far from over. And the Congress celebrations that began in November continues. The Congress has won the bye-elections in Hauz Khas and Nangloi Jat, considered to be the strongholds of former Delhi chief ministers Sushma Swaraj and Sahib Singh Verma respectively.

Congress candidate from Hauz Khas Kiran Walia defeated the BJP8217;s Hari Shankar Gautam by a margin of 3,626 votes. Walia secured 19,800 votes of the total 37,453 votes polled, while Gautam bagged 16,174. All the other 11 candidates in the fray had to forfiet their deposits.

In Nangloi Jat, Congress candidate P.C Kaushik defeated former Delhi Transport Minister and BJP nominee Devender Singh Shaukeen by 3,486 votes. While Kaushik bagged 29,898 votes, Shaukeen secured 27,412 votes of the total 60,197 votes polled. Samata party8217;s Parmeshwari Devi got only 1,139 votes. Election in Nangloi Jat was postponed in November following the killing of Samata Party candidate Ved Singh, whose mother Parmeshwari got the party ticket this time.

After tiding over a possible anti-incumbency vote which would have gone in favour of the BJP, a jubilant Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said: 8220;This seems like the right time for BJP to pack up and leave Delhi8221;.

Interpreting the results an acceptance of the Congress Government, Dikshit said: 8220;This mandate shows that people have shown faith in the functioning of Congress Government, as it comes two months after the party has taken over in Delhi8221;.

On Nangloi Jat victory, pegged as a fight between Sahib Singh and Sajjan Kumar, Sajjan Kumar said: 8220;These results are the last nails for Sahib Singh and Sushma Swaraj8221;.

8220;It is a personal defeat for Sahib Singh and he should go into political oblivion,8221; Sajjan Kumar added.

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The two seats, for which bye-polls were held on February 22, take the Congress8217; tally in the 70-member Delhi Assembly to 53, while the Bharatiya Janata Party has only 14 MLAs.

At a joint press conference with the victorious candidates, Dikshit said, 8220;These two seats were particularly interesting because these were meant to be BJP citadels8221;.

On her victory in a seat that she lost to Swaraj by 2,000 votes last time, Kiran Walia said, 8220;People were angry that Swaraj quit the Delhi Assembly, by which she imposed another election on Hauz Khas. Also they feel that she has betrayed them.8221; She felt that the minorities had swung the Congress way, mainly because of the attacks on various communities all across the country.

The counting for the two constituencies was done in the morning today at the Talkatora Stadium which ended by 11 a.m.