New Delhi: Congress Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit looks close to retaining power for the third straight term in the Capital. The ruling Congress won three seats in Delhi Assembly elections and was leading in 42 other constituencies while BJP was ahead at 23 seats in the 70-member Assembly.
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Mukesh Sharma of Congress was the first to emerge victorious in the Delhi Assembly elections by defeating his nearest rival BJP's Pawan Sharma in Uttam Nagar by a margin of 7,187 votes.
Ironically, barring Greater Kailash, Congress seems to have swept areas close to the BRT route. Congress has won Malviya Nagar, Mehrauli (Saket), Kasturba Nagar, Jangpura, Deoli, Ambedkar Nagar, Kalkaji.
Sharma, who is entering the Assembly for the fourth consecutive term, has shifted to Uttam Nagar constituency following delimitation.
Another two-time MLA who won this time was Mahabal Mishra. He defeated his nearest BJP rival Pradyuman Rajput by 13,981 votes.
In Jungpura, two-time MLA Tarvinder Singh Marwah defeated Akali Dal's Manjinder Singh Sirsa by a margin of 13,956 votes.
Ministers AK Walia (Laxmi Nagar), Arvinder Singh Lovely (Gandhi Nagar) and Yoganand Shastri (Mehrauli) were ahead in the race.
Ministers Harun Yusuf (Ballimaran) and Raj Kumar Chouhan (Mangolpuri), who were initially trailing, were now ahead in the race.
Delhi Assembly Speaker Chaudhury Prem Singh, who has never lost an election since 1958, is leading in Ambedkar Nagar.
Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan is trailing in Krishna Nagar constituency.
Congress is leading Vishwas Nagar, Kasturba Nagar, Rohtas Nagar, Patel Nagar, Uttam Nagar and Dwarka while BJP is ahead in Shakur Basti, Patparganj and Karol Bagh.
In a major surprise other parties are leading in eight seats.
BSP is ahead in Babarpur constituency where Congress is in the third position.
Counting of votes cast in the November 29 polling for 69 out of the 70 Assembly seats in Delhi, began on Monday morning amid tight security.
All the 13 counting centres have been declared 'high-security zones' and elaborate security arrangements are in place to prevent any untoward incidents.
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Over 57 per cent of the more than 1 crore electorate had participated in the polling to decide the electoral fate of 863 candidates in the fray, including 352 independents. A clear picture of the outcome is likely to emerge by Monday afternoon.
Polling for the Rajinder Nagar seat has been postponed to December 13 following the sudden demise of BJP candidate and sitting MLA Puran Chand Yogi.
The results will decide if the BJP will end the Congress' 10-year reign in Delhi, or Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit will succeed in steering her party to power for a third consecutive term.
At the last hustings in 2003, the Congress had a tally of 47 and the BJP 20 in the 70-member house.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), trying to open its account in the Delhi Assembly, is likely to play an important role this time. It has put up candidates for all the 69 seats and is expected to queer the pitch for both the Congress and the BJP in few seats.
While the Congress, too, contested all the seats, the BJP had put up 68 candidates (including three Akali Dal nominees contesting on its Lotus symbol) and one candidate of the Akali Dal contested on the Akali symbol.
The Nationalst Congress Party (NCP) is in the fray in 15, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in 11, Communist Party of India (CPI) in five and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in four apart from 353 independents. Other smaller parties have fielded 270 candidates.
And the BSP meanwhile is hoping to spoil the party for both the rivals, claiming to grab a few seats this time and play the part of a kingmaker.
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