The Aam Aadmi Party’s Atishi thanked Delhi’s voters as she won the Kalkaji seat in South Delhi Lok Sabha constituency by over 11,300 votes on Tuesday.
Atishi thanked Delhi’s voters and called AAP’s victory in the assembly elections a win for the people.
BJP’s Dharamveer Singh and Atishi had been in a close race earlier in the day as the lead see-sawed between the two candidates.
Meanwhile, Congress’s Shivani Chopra who received just about 5,000 votes was among 67 Congress candidates who lost their deposits this election.
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Atishi, a graduate from the University of Oxford and a Rhodes scholar, was an advisor to Delhi education minister Manish Sisodia till April 2018 when her appointment was cancelled by an order from the Centre. She is credited with transforming the capital’s government schools and initiating education reforms.
She is also a member of AAP’s Political Affairs Committee.
In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, AAP had fielded Atishi from the East Delhi constituency, where she was locked in an acrimonious fight with BJP’s Gautam Gambhir. Atishi lost the election.
The Kalkaji candidate had said that the Delhi assembly election was a “straight fight” between BJP and AAP.
On her plans for the Kalkaji constituency, Atishi told The Quint, “Traffic and parking are major issues in this area. And I think a lot of the roads need to be redesigned for that reason. Secondly, in Govindpuri, there are many slums where basic facilities were not there in the last 25 years. While we have improved in the last five years, a lot needs to be done on basic infrastructure like sewage lines, water. I also want to build new schools here.”
According to Firstpost, Kalkaji has a diverse population with a sizeable number of Punjabi refugees, Purvanchalis and slum dwellers.
Over 62% polling to place during the Delhi assembly elections on February 8. In 2015, AAP had swept the polls to win 67 of the 70 seats in the assembly.
In a near repeat of its performance, AAP stunned the BJP to come back to power with 63 seats this time.