AAP wins Bawana bypoll in Delhi; Mamata Banerjee congratulates Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party comfortably retained the Bawana Assembly constituency on Monday, leaping way ahead of the Congress and the BJP, redeeming some lost pride following a string of poll defeats in recent times. [caption id=“attachment_3431638” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] The constituency, situated on the northern periphery of the city, is a mix of slum clusters, villages and has a huge poorvanchali (migrants from east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar) voter base, factors which combined to propel the AAP to victory. The AAP candidate, Ram Chander, bagged 59,886 votes while the BJP, which had fielded AAP turncoat Ved Parkash as its candidate, finished a distant second with 35,834 votes. Congress’s Surender Kumar trailed closely behind with 31,919 votes. For the BJP, the loss comes barely four months into its total domination in the municipal polls and a sweep of the Rajouri Garden bypolls. The Congress’s hopes to regain some lost ground in its erstwhile turf were dashed. In the initial few rounds of counting, it appeared that the party would give a tough fight to the AAP, but the AAP surged ahead from around 14th round. A total of 28 round of countings were held. Bawana is one of the largest constituencies in Delhi in terms of number of voters (2.94 lakh). The by-poll, which was held on 23 August, saw a meagre turnout of 45 percent. A total of eight candidates were in the fray. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday congratulated her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party for its victory in Bawana Assembly by-poll. “Congratulations Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party for winning the Bawana by-poll”, Banerjee said in a tweet commenting on the AAP’s win.