Congress does unto AAP what Kejriwal's party had done to it in Haryana.
Congress candidate Sandeep Dikshit polled 4.541 votes. Photograph: ANI Photo
After the Bharatiya Janata Party's stupendous success in the Delhi assembly elections, it is now obvious that the Opposition parties need to adopt the 'ek hai toh safe hai' mantra to take on the BJP's election machine.
Just like the Aam Aadmi Party damaged the Congress in last October's Haryana assembly elections, the Congress this time hurt AAP's prospects in the Delhi elections.
In terms of vote percentage AAP bagged 43.26% votes whereas the Congress got 6.32% votes, a total of 49.58% votes, more than the BJP's 46.65% votes.
In Haryana, the BJP secured 39.94% votes while the Congress and its allies won 39.34% votes.
A difference of 0.60% percentage votes seems minor but it cost the Congress as it lost the state elections.
AAP took away 1.8% votes which, in the final analysis, may have made all the difference.
Nothing illustrates better the Congress' vote-cutting ability than the high profile electoral contest in New Delhi where Parvesh Verma defeated AAP national Convenor Arvind Kejriwal by 4,089 votes.
In the third position in this contest was the Congress' Sandeep Dikshit with 4,541 votes.
Had the Congress and AAP fought in alliance -- both are part of the INDIA bloc -- the outcome may have been different.
AAP leader Manish Sisodia lost to the BJP's Tarvinder Singh Marwah by just 675 seats from Jangpura.
In third position was the Congress' Farhad Suri, with 7,350 votes.
In Badli the BJP's Aahir Deepak Chaudhary won the seat polling 61,192 votes, the AAP's Ajesh Yadav polled 46,029 votes while the Congress' Devender Yadav polled 41,071 votes.
In Chhatarpur AAP's Brahm Singh Tanwar lost to the BJP's Kartar Singh Tanwar by 6,239 votes. The Congress' Rajender Singh Tanwar polled 6,601 votes.
In Greater Kailash the BJP's Shikha Roy defeated AAP's Saurabh Bharadwaj by 3,188 votes. The Congress' Garvit Singhvi was in third place with 6,711 votes.
Before AAP's birth the electoral fight for Delhi was between the Congress and BJP.
The BJP had stalwart leaders like Madanlal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj, its last Delhi chief minister in 1998, after which the Congress under Sheila Dikshit reigned till 2013.
The BJP had a captive voter base of between 34% and 38% in the capital while the Congress in the Sheila Dikshit era enjoyed a 40% vote share which ensured three terms in office.
AAP's arrival ate into the Congress vote bank, which reduced to 25% in 2013 and shrunk to a shocking 4.26% in the 2020 assembly elections.
This election the Congress increased its vote percentage by two points to 6.32%, which has come at AAP's expense.
The BJP, which secured 38.51% votes in the 2020 assembly elections, increased it to 46.65% this election, an increase of 8.14% votes.
Before the Delhi elections, Congress leader Ajay Maken told to ANI, 'It was not Rahul Gandhi but Kejriwal who started the rift with the Congress.'
'The Congress gave AAP 4 seats in Haryana but they wanted 6 seats. We told them we will discuss this with our Haryana leaders. However, as soon as Kejriwal stepped out of jail he declared 90 candidates for AAP in Haryana, thus ruining the INDIA grouping,' Maken claimed.
'For Delhi too.' Maken added, 'Kejriwal said there was no possibility of an alliance with the Congress.'
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