Modi's party fails to wrest Delhi as AAP registers a stunning victory

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 62 seats, while the BJP won eight seats.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party was given a stunning defeat by a regional party on Tuesday in elections in the national capital that were seen as a referendum on his policies, including a new national citizenship law.
Saturday's New Delhi legislative elections pit Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party against the incumbent Aam Aadmi Party, or "common man's" party, whose pro-poor policies focused on fixing state-run schools and providing cheap electricity, free health care and bus transport for women during its five years in power.
Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah appealed to majority Hindus by focusing on national issues such as the citizenship law, which triggered widespread protests, at the expense of problems facing the capital's millions of residents.
At least 23 people were killed in clashes between police and protesters against the law in December.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 62 seats, while the BJP won eight seats. The Congress party, led by Sonia Gandhi, failed to win any seat.
The defeat was a setback to Modi's prestige, coming less than eight months after he led the BJP to a resounding victory in national elections. The party won all seven of the capital's parliamentary seats in those polls. The victory was a major boost for AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, the 51-year-old incumbent New Delhi chief minister and anti-corruption crusader.
Kejriwal joined hundreds of his supporters in celebrating the party's performance. In a brief speech. he said the election "has given birth to a new brand of politics - politics of development" to meet people's basic needs.
Modi in a tweet congratulated Kejriwal for his party's victory. "Wishing them the very best in fulfilling the aspirations of the people of Delhi," he said. Local BJP leader Manoj Tewari denied the AAP accusation that his party had tried to create a Hindu-Muslim divide during the elections. Hindus comprise more than 80 per cent of India's 1.3 billion people and Muslims about 14 per cent.
Kejriwal launched his party in 2012 and campaigned to rid the political system and government of corruption and inefficiency.
The party's symbol - a broom- and its promise to sweep the administration of graft struck a chord with New Delhi nearly 20 million people.
In the 2015 elections, Kejriwal's party won 67 seats and the BJP three. Modi and Home Minister Shah campaigned vigorously in an attempt to unseat the AAP and capture power in New Delhi. The BJP last ruled New Delhi in the 1990s.
The new citizenship law fast-tracks naturalisation for non-Muslim migrants from neighboring Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who are living in the country illegally. The BJP also hoped to garner Hindu votes for ending the semi-autonomy of Muslim-majority Kashmir last summer and turning the disputed region into two federally governed territories.
 

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