Congress, AAP both claim firm grip on all seven seats

A day after highest voter turnout in Delhi in three decades, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party continued to maintain that they will both win all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the city.

Former Congress chief J P Agarwal, who himself fought the election from the North-East Delhi constituency, said the high voter turnout was a reflection of the voters’ anger against the 49-day AAP city government.

“There are no principles for lies. The AAP government lied to people and they have punished it,” he said, adding the Congress would retain all the seven seats.

Sources, however, admitted that the party leaders were not looking at winning more than two seats.  These could be from among Chandni Chowk, New Delhi, East Delhi and North-East Delhi, all of which saw a close contest.

Dipak Vajpayee, media coordinator of AAP, maintained that the new party had got a huge response in the polls and its gains in Delhi would shock its rivals.

“The feedback that we are receiving suggests that we will sweep all the seven seats,” he said.

Asked about an interview of AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal in which he said the party should have held a few more meetings before taking a decision to quit the Delhi government, Vajpayee denied that the party’s exit from the city government will have any bearing on Lok Sabha poll performance.

“Our voters have remained with us,” he said, adding that the result on May 16 will shock all rivals.

Sources in the new party, however, maintained that Kejriwal’s roadshows in the last leg of the campaign were the highlight of their electioneering but its volunteers were not able to establish door-to-door contact as they did during the December 4, 2013 Assembly polls.

“Fewer volunteers from other states landed in Delhi for the party’s campaign as they were busy electioneering in their respective states,” said an AAP leader.

“There also was some disillusionment among voters over the hasty exit of Kejriwal government,” he said.