Congress general secretary in charge of its Delhi unit, Shakeel Ahmad, on Sunday said the party is shocked at the results of the assembly elections here, but said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has cut Congress' votes, due to which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could secure few more seats.
"It is shocking for us also, and we were not expecting this. Once the results come out, we will analyse what went wrong. But looking at the results, the votes secured by AAP in places it could not win, it has cut Congress votes, due to which the BJP got few more seats. They have cut Congress votes more as compared to BJP," he said.
He denied the 'Narendra Modi factor' influencing the voters, and said that the vote percentage of the saffron outfit would have gone up if the Modi factor had really kicked in.
"I don't think the Modi factor played in. When the results would come out, I think the vote percentage of BJP will be less. Had there been an influence of Narendra Modi, the vote percentage will have gone up. Because AAP has cut our seats, there will be an increase in the number of seats of BJP," he added.
Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Girija Vyas said: "It will take time for analyzing the results. In Rajasthan, it is surprising that we lost that despite so many welfare schemes including pensions, free medicines, MNREGA etc. I think these schemes could not reach the beneficiaries on time."
Latest trends in Rajasthan show that the BJP is ahead in 76 seats, while Congress is leading in 18 seats. In Madhya Pradesh, BJP is ahead in 123 seats, while the Congress leading in 54 seats. In Delhi, newcomer AAP is leading in 18 seats, while the BJP is ahead in 20 seats and the Congress in 4 seats. In Chhattisgarh, BJP is ahead in 44 seats while the Congress is leading in 40 seats. The results in these four states have begun to trickle in.
The counting of votes in four states began here this morning amidst tight security and elaborate arrangements made by the Election Commission.
The votes will decide the fate of contesting candidates in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh where assembly elections were held between November 11 and December 4.
Three time Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has forwarded her resignation to the Lt. Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung, finally accepting that her Congress Party has lost the assembly polls in the national capital.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues to be in the lead in the polls and is more or less certain of returning to power in Delhi after 15 years.
However, the BJP may have to share the responsibility of governance of the Delhi with the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
