BJP’s Kailash Gahlot, who was earlier with AAP, won the Bijwasan seat.
| Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap
Most leaders who switched sides in the run-up to the Delhi Assembly election managed to secure victory.
Three-time Congress MLA Tarwinder Singh Marwah, who switched to the BJP in 2022, defeated former Deputy Chief Minister and senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia.
Kailash Gahlot, the Transport Minister in the AAP government, switched to the BJP in 2024 and won from Bijwasan.
Arvinder Singh Lovely, who too switched to the BJP from Congress in 2024, managed to win from Gandhi Nagar.
Zubair Ahmed, who left Congress for AAP, bagged the Seelampur seat. In Patel Nagar, former AAP Minister Raaj Kumar Anand, who contested on a BJP ticket, lost to AAP’s Pravesh Ratn. The two switched parties recently.
In a somewhat similar story, Kartar Singh Tanwar, who switched from AAP to BJP, won the Chhattarpur seat, which has always been won by a ‘Tanwar’. He defeated Brahm Singh Tanwar, who was formerly with the BJP but contested on an AAP ticket this time.
In Rajouri Garden, BJP’s Manjinder Singh Sirsa defeated AAP’s Dhanwati Chandela. Mr. Sirsa was formerly with Shiromani Akali Dal.
The exceptions
Fortune didn’t work well for Jitender Singh Shunty, a former BJP MLA who made headlines for his social work during COVID-19. He recently switched to AAP and lost to BJP’s Sanjay Goel in Shahdara.
Similarly, Kamal Arora, who had switched sides from Congress to AAP, faced defeat in the Gandhi Nagar seat.
Published – February 09, 2025 01:58 am IST