Arvind Kejriwal admits people were angry as Jarnail Singh left Rajouri Garden, says bypoll rout won’t affect MCD polls

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal finally reacted to the party's Rajouri Garden bypoll rout, admitting that people were angry after AAP MLA left the seat.

Written by: Pragati Ratti Sharma

Updated: April 14, 2017, 12:11 PM IST

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https://www.india.com/news/india/arvind-kejriwal-admits-people-were-angry-as-jarnail-singh-left-rajouri-garden-says-bypoll-rout-wont-affect-mcd-polls-2028289/ Copy

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New Delhi, April 14: Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal finally reacted to the party’s Rajouri Garden bypoll rout, admitting that people were angry after AAP MLA left the seat. Speaking to the media on Friday, Kejriwal said, “Jarnail Singh had to leave this seat and go to fight Punjab Assembly elections as he has done a lot for the Sikh community. But people of Rajouri Garden were very angry with him leaving. We tried to calm them down but couldn’t. The anger was more.” However, Kejriwal also added that this will have no impact on the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections scheduled for April 23.

Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa won the Rajouri Garden bypoll on Friday, while Congress candidate Meenakshi Chandela was second. AAP candidate Harjeet Singh was a distant third and could not even garner one-sixth of the total votes polled, leading to him losing his deposit on the seat. While Sirsa garnered 40602 votes, Chandela got 25950 and Singh just 10243 votes.

The Rajouri Garden seat belonged to the Aam Aadmi Party after the party’s massive victory in the Delhi Assembly Elections 2015. AAP’s Jarnail Singh had won the seat over Sirsa by over 10,000 votes in 2015. However, last year, Jarnail Singh had left the constituency to fight the Punjab Assembly elections. The AAP decided to field him from the Lambi seat in Punjab, the home seat of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Jarnail Singh lost not just the seat, but his deposit too, as he could not garner one-sixth of the votes polled at the Lambi seat. (Also Read: Mistakes of AAP)

The Rajouri Garden bypoll mandate comes just days ahead of the MCD elections, scheduled for Aril 23, the result for which will be declared on April 26. With the BJP winning the Rajouri Garden bypoll and the AAP going down to a distant third, it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the MCD elections.