New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal has lost his re-election bid from the New Delhi seat to former two-time BJP MP Parvesh Verma, whom the party had held back from contesting last year’s Lok Sabha election.
Mr Kejriwal finished around 1,200 votes behind his rival, with the Congress’ Sandeep Dikshit third, a set of results that will also reignite talk over the rift between the two parties – both members of the stuttering INDIA bloc – and if an alliance may have allowed the AAP boss to retain his seat if not his government.
Meanwhile, Mr Verma, hailed as a ‘giant-slayer’ and potential future Chief Minister, following in the footsteps of his father, Sahib Singh Verma, is expected to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Speaking to reporters after his win, he thanked the New Delhi constituency voters and spoke of a ‘double engine’ government in the city, referring to the BJP in power at the centre and in Delhi.
Arvind Kejriwal has held the New Delhi seat since 2013, when he beat Congress stalwart and then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to herald what would be the AAP’s decade-long rule of Delhi.
