Bawana bypoll: Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari takes responsibility for defeat, will review reasons behind loss

New Delhi: Jolted by the defeat in the Bawana Assembly bypoll by a margin of over 24,000 votes, the BJP Monday said it will review the reasons behind its embarrassing loss. [caption id=“attachment_3808689” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Manoj Tiwari. PTI[/caption] Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari took responsibility of the defeat of party candidate Ved Prakash, stating that the causes of his defeat will be reviewed. “As the president of Delhi BJP, I accept the mandate and take responsibility for it,” Tiwari told reporters here, adding that the result was against the expectations of the party. “We will review the result (of Bawana bypoll) to find out the reasons of our defeat,” he said. The Aam Aadmi Party retained the city’s Bawana Assembly constituency Monday with a comfortable majority, leaping way ahead of the Congress and the BJP, as it staged a remarkable comeback from back-to-back electoral defeats in the recent past. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party’s candidate Ram Chander garnered 59,886 votes in the bypoll. The BJP, which had fielded AAP turncoat Ved Parkash as its candidate, finished a distant second with 35,834 votes, while the Congress’s Surender Kumar, a three-time former MLA from Bawana, trailed closely behind with 31,919 votes. Parkash had won from Bawana in the 2015 Assembly elections in the city on an AAP ticket. He later quit the party and joined the BJP in March 2017. BJP leaders blamed Parkash’s “negative image” in Bawana as a “major reason” behind the party’s loss in the bypoll. “He was perceived as a deserter by locals after quitting the AAP. People were not happy with him as he had not made a mark even during his three years as the Bawana MLA,” said a senior Delhi BJP leader. The BJP’s defeat is all the more “glaring” in the backdrop of “spectacular” success of the party in the MCD polls held in April and the Rajouri Garden Assembly bypoll before that, he said. A detailed review report on the Bawana bypoll will be submitted to BJP national president Amit Shah, party sources added.