The Congress today projected the Rajouri Garden Assembly bypoll result, where its candidate finished second, as a sign of its "resurgence" in Delhi while exuding confidence that the party would emerge as a "dark horse" in the MCD polls.
Congress candidate Meenakshi Chandela gave a spirited fight to the winner, Manjinder Singh Sirsa of BJP-SAD combine, but lost by a margin of 14,652 votes.
Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken lauded party workers for the result and said the party's poll percentage has jumped from 12 per cent in 2015 Assembly elections to 33 per cent in this bypoll.
"Keep the spirit alive-we'll be the dark horse in MCD!," he tweeted.
Citing Congress' poll percentage in this Assembly bypoll, Maken termed the result as a sign of the party's "resurgence" in Delhi.
"Within two years, Congress has been able to achieve 300 per cent growth in its vote share only due to the tireless efforts of its workers among the people of Delhi," Maken said.
Hitting out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), whose candidate lost his security deposit in the bypoll, Maken said the verdict was a "referendum" on the party and its leader Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. It forecast AAP's defeat in the MCD polls scheduled to be held on April 23.
"Rajouri Garden Assembly bypoll result has established that there is a direct fight between the Congress and the BJP for MCD polls. AAP, that lost its deposit today, will be a poor third," he said.
Quoting booth-wise vote share of the party's candidate, Maken claimed that Congress has received support of residents of resettlement colonies and unauthorised colonies, safai- karamcharis, street vendors and minorities "en mass".
"Our old, traditional voter base is now back," he said.
However, a section of Delhi Congress leaders who have been objecting to ticket distribution procedure for MCD polls by Maken's team, termed today's defeat as a "matter of concern" for the party.
"Today's result is a matter of concern for the party. Rajouri has always been a Congress turf. The Congress had lost by a small margin in 2013 despite there being a rebel candidate," a senior Delhi Congress leader said.
"Moreover, many Sikh faces who were star campaigners in Punjab were kept away in Delhi. Even Sheila Dikshit, whose good governance continues to be a talking point, was kept away. The Congress could have done much better," he said.
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