Delhi Election: As AAP heads towards victory, party claims first win from Seelampur seat

Even as the trends point towards a clear AAP victory in the 2020 Delhi Assembly polls, the ruling party has claimed that its first candidate has won. Writing on the microblogging website Twitter, an account associated with AAP stated that Abdul Rehman had won from the Seelampur constituency. However, the Election Commission of India is yet to officially announce the result. As per the trends at 12.43 pm, Rehman is leading over his BJP counterpart Kaushal Mishra by 9,830 votes. Meanwhile, AAP is ahead in 56 seats. 

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Seelampur constituency

Seelampur is one of the few constituencies dominated by the Muslims. While it has been a traditional stronghold of Congress, the AAP candidate secured a convincing victory in the 2015 Assembly elections. On the other hand, BJP has never won this seat. Mateen Ahmad is the Congress opponent in the current election. After the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act, this area had witnessed violent protests.  

Read: Delhi Election: AAP's Amanatullah Khan Jubilant Over Okhla Lead Over BJP By 5000+ Votes

Engrossing election campaign

Since the announcement of the Delhi Assembly polls, the national capital has witnessed a high-octane campaign mainly by BJP and AAP. Right at the outset, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made it clear that his party would focus on issues such as clean water, education, and health. He asserted that AAP would not indulge in negative campaigning. AAP was also the first party to declare its full list of candidates re-nominating all its sitting ministers and giving a chance to young leaders such as Atishi and Raghav Chadha.   

On the other hand, BJP refrained from naming any CM candidate. It named a newcomer Sunil Yadav to take on Kejriwal from the New Delhi constituency. Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, numerous BJP CMs, MPs and Union Ministers participated in the election campaign. In the last few days, BJP leaders sought to highlight AAP’s alleged role in instigating the Shaheen Bagh agitation. Finally, the electorate of Delhi registered their vote on February 8. As per the Election Commission of India, the total voter turnout was 62.59 per cent- nearly 5 per cent lower than the corresponding figures in the 2015 election. 

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