Delhi polls 2013: BJP wins, but real winner is AAP Table of contents AAP wins big in Delhi Delhi Election Result: AAP office erupts in celebrations 05 Delhi result 2013: close races are testament to AAP’s phenomenal groundwork 06 Will be a strong Opposition, wont ally with Cong, BJP: Kejriwal 07 Analysing the AAP phenomenon Why Arvind Kejriwal’s supporters swore by him and won 09 Why technology is the wind beneath AAP’s wings 11 AAP has disproved the cynics, but lets not get swept away 13 Story of a home-grown David: How AAP triumphed in Delhi 15 The end of an era: Sheila Dikshit loses to Kejriwal Sheila Dikshit ki bewaqoofi: The fall of the Lutyens regime 19 Shock and awe after Sheila Dikshit’s crushing loss to Kejriwal 21 Sheila Dikshit’s 15-year tenure ends: All you need to know 22 Kejriwal doesn’t worry me: Why Sheila will have to eat her words 24 By the numbers: Why Kejriwal’s victory over Dikshit is so incredible 25 Harsh Vardhan leads BJP to victory but falls short Delhi election results: Vardhan thanks Dikshit, congratulates Kejriwal 28 Dr Saab to CM nominee: Meet Vardhan, the man who united BJP in Delhi 29 How the RSS went all out for Harsh Vardhan - but fell short 31 BJP won’t resort to horse-trading to form majority in Delhi, says Harsh Vardhan 33 Will talk only to Modi, want deputy CM post: Delhi’s lone independent MLA 34 Why BJP won’t get any help from AAP in Delhi 35 Copyright © 2012 Firstpost How Delhi’s voters picked their MLAs Delhi election results: Congress decimated in its strongholds 38 Delhi elections spell gloom for dynastic politics 40 Delhi result: NOTA loses, less than 1% used right to reject 41 Beyond Delhi: Lessons for Congress and BJP Delhi election 2013: Six things AAP has changed in politics 43 Assembly election result: Modi can’t ignore Kejriwal’s AAP anymore 45 Congress will do AAP bigger and better, promises Rahul Gandhi 47 Why Rahul Gandhi’s better-than-you- can-imagine promise fails to enthuse 49 What assembly elections say about Modi and Nehru-Gandhi dynasty 51 Hard lesson of the assembly elections: How Congress can stop Narendra Modi 54 Dear Rahul Gandhi, here’s what you could do to save the Congress 56 Copyright © 2012 Firstpost AAP wins big in Delhi Copyright © 2012 Firstpost Delhi Election Result: AAP office erupts in celebrations It’s Modi’s turn next, say volunteers at teeming office of the AAP in Delhi. Shruti Dhapola Dec 8, 2013 t's Delhi election result day and the Aam Aadmi Party office is easily home to one of The other big news for the AAP came from I the capital's loudest celebrations. Teeming Seemapuri where deceased AAP candidate San- with people since 7 am on a chilly winter morn- tosh Koli's brother Dharmendra Singh is lead- ing, it now appears that there is no end to the ing by over 11,000 votes. celebrations with the party having clear leads in more than 25 seats. In RK Puram, star AAP candidate Shazia Ilmi is trailing. An AAP worker believes they might just For a party that was formed only in November lose that seat. 2012 and registered with the Election Commis- sion in March this year, its performance has In Malvika Nagar, Congress cabinet member Dr been overwhelming, what everybody including Kiran Walia is losing to AAP candidate Somnath AAP workers and political observers are calling Bharti who is at 13,000 votes followed by BJP a spectacular debut, one that has defied all crit- candidate Aarti Mehra. The Congress is a dis- ics. tant third. The biggest shouts go up when news filters out "Sheila tai bhag gayi, sister Sheila is gone," one that Arvind Kejriwal has defeated three-time slogan goes up, to be followed soon by another: chief minister Sheila Dikshit in the New Delhi "Sheila ko haraya hai , modi ko harayenge. We constituency by over 10,000 votes. The news is beat Sheila , it's Modi's turn next." confirmed by AAP workers, though the Election Commission website is still to be updated. Copyright © 2012 Firstpost Delhi result 2013: close races are testament to AAP’s phenomenal groundwork Even in the seats that the Aam Aadmi Party lost, it gave the BJP and Congress candidates a spirited run for their money. Shazia Ilmi, AAP candidate from RK Puram lost by a mere 326 votes in the polls. Shruti Dhapola, Dec 8, 2013 ven in the seats that the Aam Aadmi Vihar, AAP’s Dinesh Mohaniya won by 777 Party lost, it gave the BJP and Congress votes. He got 24,851 votes while rival BJP can- E candidates a spirited run for their mon- didate Shiv Charan Lal Gupta got, 24,074 votes. ey. In Sadar Bazar too, AAP candidate Som Dutt won by a vote margin of 796 votes defeating BJP’s Jai Prakash. The other constituency which saw a close con- test was Rohini where AAP candidate Rajesh Garg defeated BJP’s Jai Bhagwan Agarwal by a margin of 1872 votes. Garg got 47,890 votes while Agarwal got 46,018 votes. In Delhi Cantt AAP candidate Surender Singh won by a margin of 355 votes. He defeated BJP candidates Karan Singh Tanwar. Surender Singh got 26124 votes while Tanwar got 25,769. In Sultanpur Majra, Congress’ Jai Kishan won by a margin of 1112 votes. He polled 31,458 Shazia Ilmi, AAP candidate from RK Puram lost votes while rival AAP candidate Sandeep Kumar by a mere 326 votes in the polls. She got 27691 got 30,356 votes. votes and gave her BJP rival Anil Kumar Shar- ma a huge scare, as he scraped through with In Vikaspuri, AAP candidate Mahinder Ya- 28,017 votes. dav has a slim margin of 405 votes, over BJP’s Krishna Gahlot. Gahlot polled 61,627 votes Two constituencies saw AAP candidates win- while Yadav got 62,032 votes till now, and the ning by a margin of over 700 votes. In Sangam counting is still in progess. Copyright © 2012 Firstpost Will be a strong Opposition, wont ally with Cong, BJP: Kejriwal “Ordinary people have ensured the defeat of heavyweights,” Aam Admi Party’s Arvind Kejriwal said, addressing thousands of supporters outside the party’s office in New Delhi. FP Politics, Dec 8, 2013 Ordinary people have ensured the defeat of AAP's outstanding performance in the Delhi heavyweights," Aam Admi Party's Arvind Assembly elections have clearly indicated the " Kejriwal said, addressing thousands of mood of the people, one against rising prices supporters outside the party's office in New and corruption. Delhi. "If parties do not change, then the people will change them... who are we? we are just common people standing for change," he said. Kejriwal also highlighted various party candi- dates who defeated three-time MLAs in their strongholds, saying the elections were fought on the plank of honesty. "We had said we wanted only Rs 20 crore, once we reached that limit, we stopped. Which other party does the same? No where in the world does this happen." Kejriwal also said asked other elected represent- atives to serve the people in their constituency, saying that was the basic purpose of politics. Stating that his party was clear that they would not offer or accept support from any political "I don't have personal enemies, if I have hurt party, Kejriwal said he was ready to sit and be a anyone during the campaign, I apologise for it," strong opposition party. he said, adding that his main fight was against corruption and inflation. Copyright © 2012 Firstpost Analysing the AAP phenomenon Copyright © 2012 Firstpost Why Arvind Kejriwal’s supporters swore by him and won While skeptics may have doubted Kejriwal’s ability to take on Dikshit, AAP workers say they have always had full faith in him. Shruti Dhapola, Dec 8, 2013 ew Delhi: AAP’s Hanuman Road office office, well before the results or numbers had near Connaught Place is an old yel- started coming out. She was steadfast in her N lowing house in the middle of a lane belief that Kejriwal would win. that is sprawling with bungalows and Mercedes cars. But today this quaint little road was jam- Sonkar is a housewife and AAP party worker for packed with AAP workers when the election the last nine months. results were declared. The AAP House itself was She tells us, "Till now I had never voted for any- overflowing with people celebrating, cheering, one. I had no faith in these politicians, but with dancing, and waving AAP’s jhaado as the party AAP it's different. I'm confident that Kejriwal put up a spectacular debut performance in the will win in New Delhi. I've campaigned for AAP Delhi elections. to so many people that even I don't remember." She was also one of the poll booth managers for AAP at the Gole Market area in New Delhi. When asked if she thinks AAP will form the government, she’s hesitant. “Not so sure about government. But I have full faith ki hamara banda to jeete ga (our guy will win).” Another person who was confident of Kejriwal’s win is Hamender Ghagat. Ghagat was in-charge of the Gole market zone. He’s never doubted Kejriwal’s win. “I’m hoping for an AAP govern- ment. There’s no question of our party going into an alliance with BJP or Congress,” he says.