The counting for Delhi assembly election is underway as we speak but the early trends indicate a lean towards the AAP with the party leading in 62 seats.
A look at the latest ECI data shows the Arvind Kejriwal-led incumbent AAP is on track to retain power in the capital city, with Kejriwal poised to capture the Delhi throne for the third time in a row.
A distant second, the BJP is leading in 18 seats. The Congress is yet to open its account
Rebel AAP leader Kapil Mishra, who had joined the saffron party, suffered a crushing defeat in the Model Town constituency at the hands of AAP's Akhilesh Pati Tripathi.
Sisodia, who was the deputy chief minister in the outgoing AAP-led dispensation and led its education reform efforts, defeated his BJP rival Ravinder Singh Negi by over 3,000 votes, after initial hiccups.
Raghav Chadha, who was fielded from the Rajinder Nagar constituency in place of the sitting AAP MLA, also defeated his BJP rival Sardar R P Singh.
As per election trends, Atishi, who was fielded from Kalkaji, is also poised for a victory after initially trailing from the seat.
However, the BJP candidate for the seat, Dharambir Singh, alleged there was some issue with an EVM and requested for a recount, poll officials said.
Rajendra Pal Gautam, who held the portfolio of social welfare minister in the outgoing Delhi government, defeated BJP ally Lok Jan Shakti Party's Sant Lal.
AAP's S K Bagga won from the Krishna Nagar constituency where he was pitted against BJP's Anil Goyal.
The Tri Nagar and Shalimar Bagh seats also went to Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Its Preeti Tomar won the Tri Nagar seat by 12,000 votes, while Bandana Kumari emerged victorious on the Shalimar Bagh seat by a margin of 800 votes.
AAP's Kuldeep Kumar defeated Raj Kumar of the BJP from the Kondli seat.
Mukesh Kumar Ahlawat of the AAP defeated the BJP's Ram Chander Chawriya from Sultanpur Majra, a reserved seat.
Mohinder Goyal of the AAP won the Rithala seat after defeating BJP's Manish Chaudhary, while Jangpura seat was won by AAP's Praveen Kumar who defeated BJP's Impreet Singh Bakshi.
Ram Singh Netaji of the AAP won the Badarpur seat against Ramvir Singh Bidhuri of the BJP.
AAP's Prakash Jarwal won the Deoli seat, defeating Arvind Kumar of the BJP, while the party's candidate Naresh Balyan retained the Uttam Nagar seat after defeating BJP's Krishan Gahlot.
In Shakur Basti, AAP's senior leader Satyendar Jain won after defeating Dr SC Vats. Jain was trailing Vats in the initial trends.
Rajesh Gupta of the AAP emerged victorious from the Wazirpur seat while BJP's Dr Mahender Nagpal stood second.
Seelampur, which witnessed violence during a protest against the new citizenship law, saw AAP's Abdul Rehman emerging victorious against Kaushal Kumar Mishra of BJP. Rehman defeated his rival by a margin of 25,000 votes.
Surendra Kumar of the AAP defeated Ranjeet Singh of the BJP to win the Gokalpur seat. AAP's Raghuvinder Shokeen won the Nangloi Jat seat against BJP's Suman Lata while AAP's Ajay Dutt won the Ambedkar Nagar seat after defeating BJP's Khushiram Chunar.
BJP's Ajay Mahawar won the Gonda seat by a margin of 27,000 votes, defeating AAP's Shridutt Sharma.
Around a dozen exit polls have predicted that Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP will return to power, winning over 50 seats in the 70-member assembly, riding on its performance and dashing the hopes of the BJP, which has been hoping to end its wilderness in power in the capital for the past 22 years despite a high-octane campaign based on nationalism and polarisation.
Some of the exit polls predicted a lesser number of seats for the AAP, but none predicted a victory for the BJP, which, according to all, would finish a distant second. Almost all the exit polls predicted that the Congress would continue to remain irrelevant in the political scene of the National Capital Territory.
The BJP leaders had, however, dismissed the exit polls predictions and claimed that the party, which leads the Union Government, was well in course to dislodge the AAP from power.
A total of 672 candidates, including 593 men and 79 women, were in the fray for the Assembly election which was held on February 8.
(With inputs from PTI)
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