After defeating the President’s daughter from the Greater Kailash seat, the AAP’s winning candidate Saurabh Bhardwaj said it was a wrong political move for Sharmistha Mukherjee to join politics now.
“It was a wrong political decision for Sharmistha to enter politics at this point,” said Bhardwaj, speaking to reporters after his victory on Tuesday. The ex-transport minister bagged 57,589 votes from the constituency and defeated BJP’s Rakesh Kumar Gullaiya by a margin of 14,583 votes. Sharmistha – who has bagged 6,102 votes – is behind Bhardwaj by 51,487 votes.
During the 2013 Assembly elections, Bhardwaj had defeated the BJP’s Ajay Kumar Malhotra by a margin of 13,092 votes. Asked what worked in favour of the AAP in this election, Bhardwaj said it was “the 49 days rule”.
The tenure helped the ministers hone their ground-level skills, he said. Also, all the ministers have learnt from their mistakes. “Even Kejriwal learnt his lessons during the 49 days rule,” said Bhardwaj.
The Greater Kailash constituency is an interesting mix of areas housing people from all economic backgrounds. The constituency covers Greater Kailash-I, Zamrudpur, Shahpurjat, East of Kailash, parts of Kalkaji, Panchsheel Park, Chirag Dilli, Savitri Nagar, Khirki Extension, C R Park, Greater Kailash-II, Sheikh Sarai-II, among others.
The candidate added there was aggressive voting for the AAP from Chirag Dilli, Savitri Nagar, among other places. “There are three categories of voters – the beneficiaries of the system, the indifferent and the victims of the system. The victims, who want the system to change, have voted for us aggressively,” he said.
Bhardwaj, however, clarified that the affluent class was not necessarily the beneficiaries. Promising early deliverance on the party promises, the AAP contestant said such a “landslide victory” was not expected.
“In the past eight months, the people of Delhi have realised the BJP’s approach is not pro-aam aadmi. The people have seen the best performance during the AAP’s tenure. Our approach will only be pro-people,” said Bhardwaj.
