NEW DELHI 09 FEBRUARY 2025 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 26  facebook/TheMorningStandard  X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in 42.7K H O W T H E E L E C T O R A L M A P O F T H E N AT I O N A L C A P I TA L T E R R I T O R Y O F D E L H I C H A N G E D I N 1 0 Y E A R S F R O M 2 0 1 5 T O 2 0 2 5 2025 BJP AAP -10 +2.08 VOTES% 22 43.57 BJP 48 45.56 BJP 8 38.7 BJP 3 0 0 Cong 0 4.26 Cong 0 9.65 NOTA 0 0.57 NOTA 0 0.5 NOTA 0 0.5 AAP BJP AAP Arvind Kejriwal (AAP) TOTAL VOTE 25,999 JANGPURA Tarvinder Singh Manish Sisodia Marwah (BJP) (AAP) TOTAL VOTE TOTAL VOTE 38,184 KALKAJI Atishi (AAP) TOTAL VOTE 52,154 Ramesh Bidhuri (BJP) TOTAL VOTE 48,633 GREATER KAILASH Shikha Roy (BJP) TOTAL VOTE 49,594 Saurabh Bharadwaj (AAP) TOTAL VOTE 46,406 BABARPUR Gopal Rai (AAP) TOTAL VOTE 76,192 BJP(NDA) PARTY SEATS VOTES% AAP 67 53.3 AAP BJP(NDA) Aaley Mohammed Iqbal of the AAP defeated Deepti Indora of the BJP in Matia Mahal constituency by a margin of 42,724 votes 42.4K Values in per cent NEW DELHI 38,859 53.8 Cong TOP WINNERS AND LOSERS 30,088 VOTES% 62 2015 32.3 Cong BJP back Parvesh Sahib Singh (BJP) TOTAL VOTE SEATS AAP Anil Kumar Vashisht (BJP) TOTAL VOTE 57,198 We accept the mandate of the people with great humility. I congratulate the BJP for this victory and I hope they will fulfil all the promises for which people have voted for them Arvind Kejriwal, AAP convenor We humbly accept the mandate. Heartfelt thanks to all the Congress workers and voters for their dedication and support. Our fight for the progress of Delhi and the rights of its people will continue Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader AAP invincible While the BJP defeated AAP by a 2% vote margin, its seat accretion was 40. Congress again blanked out but added 2.08% votes AAP got 54.34% votes. It swallowed the Congress vote share, reduced it from 24.67% votes in 2013 to 9.65% in 2015 WITH MODI’S GUARANTEES RIVALLING KEJRIWAL’S HANDOUTS, BJP WRESTS POWER AFTER 27 YEARS; SUBSTANTIAL INCOME TAX RELIEF ANNOUNCED IN UNION BUDGET DREW THE MIDDLE CLASS; GRAFT, POOR GOVERNANCE, POLLUTION, GOING SOLO HURT AAP DELHI’S AAM AADMI TURNS TO BJP EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi THE BJP wrested power in Delhi after 27 years, delivering a decisive blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the 70-member assembly, with Saturday’s results establishing its dominance in the national capital and giving the divided opposition enough points to ponder over. The BJP’s massive victory saw Arvind Kejriwal and most of his party’s biggies, including Manish Sisodia, lose, while the Congress was decimated, failing to open its account for the third consecutive time. After the BJP stormed back to power with 48 seats, more than double that of AAP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the party’s performance, calling it a triumph of “development, vision, and trust (Vikas, Vision, Vishwas)”. He said that the BJP would make Yamuna river as the identity of the capital. During the last leg of the campaign, Kejriwal had alleged that the BJP-led Haryana government had been poisoning the Yamuna, adding had the Delhi Jal Board not stopped its water from coming into the city, it would have triggered genocide. It fueled a major uproar with the Election Commission getting into the act, issuing a notice to Kejriwal. The results, which ended Kejriwal’s more than a decadelong rule, sent a clear message that Delhi would not tolerate “corruption and lies in politics”, Modi said, addressing jubilant BJP workers at the party headquarters. He added that the capital seeks governance, not theatrics, in a sharp jab at the outgoing AAP government. Home to over 3.3 crore people, Delhi’s assembly eluded the BJP for over 25 years despite its meteoric rise under Modi since 2014. However, the party’s persistence finally paid off. Its strategy focused on addressing critical issues impacting daily life, especially corruption charges against AAP leaders, including Kejriwal, along with Yamuna and air pollution, and the excise police scam. The BJP gained from RSS’s efforts, which organised more than 1,000 meetings. The major income tax relief announced in the Union Budget apparently acted as a force multiplier and substantially shifted the middle class support away from the AAP. As for AAP, allegations of corruption, lack of civic amenities and development, and the absence of fresh ideas to captivate the public imagination proved to be a major setback, resulting in its worst performance since its electoral debut in 2013. “We accept the mandate of the people with great humility,” Kejriwal said in a video message. BJP’s Parvesh Verma, son of former CM Sahib Singh Verma, defeated the AAP chief by 4,089 votes from the New Delhi seat while Sisodia was defeated by BJP’s Tarvinder Singh Marwah by 675 votes in Jangpura. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi conceded defeat and said his party will persist in its fight for the people against corruption and pollution. The result gave the opposition INDIA bloc a lesson or two in unity, as the Congress and AAP went it alone. At least in 11 seats, AAP lost due to a split in opposition votes. For example, Kejriwal lost by 4,089 votes with Congress’s Sandeep Dikshit came third with 4,568 votes from the same seat. Had AAP and Congress contested together, Kejriwal could have squeaked through by a narrow margin. Modi promises to clean up Yamuna R A J E S H T H A K U R @ New Delhi PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said people of Delhi have rejected the politics of appeasement and put their faith in Modi ka guarantee. Addressing party workers after the BJP’s victory in the Delhi Assembly elections, Modi stated that the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) ‘politics of shortcuts’ had been short-circuited. “This is a historic win, not a usual victory, as the people of Delhi have shown the door to ‘AAP-da’. Delhi has become Aapda-mukt,” he said, adding the BJP’s double-engine government would now ensure Delhi’s development at double speed. During his address, Modi promised to clean up the Yamuna and accused the AAP government of neglecting the river. “I had pledged during the election campaign that we will make Yamunaji the identity of Delhi. No matter how much time is spent or how much energy is used, we will make every effort to serve the Yamuna,” Modi said. He also promised that the Comptroller and Auditor Gen- @ Bengaluru FOLLOWING a CBI probe and arrest of three top officials of Koneru Lakshmaiah Educational Foundation (KLEF) in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, in an alleged bribery case to acquire higher grade accreditation, the National Assessment & Accreditation Council’s (NAAC’s) Executive Committee (EC) has debarred all seven members of its peer review team from assessment or any activities of NAAC “with immediate effect”. NAAC, in a press statement on Saturday said it has also eral (CAG) report, which revealed a revenue loss of `2,026 crore due to the Delhi government’s excise policy, would be tabled in the first sitting of the Delhi Assembly after the BJP forms the government. “The AAP left no stone unturned to create various conspiracies every day to win the Assembly elections, but I guarantee that the CAG report will be presented in the first Assembly session, and whoever has looted Delhi will have to answer,” he said. Turning his attention to the Congress, Modi remarked that the fact that the party had not won a single seat in Delhi in the last three elections indicated that the people had little trust in its leadership. He accused Congress leaders of speaking the language of urban Naxals. “When Congress leaders say they are fighting India, fighting the Indian state, it sounds like the language of Naxalites. This is the language of bringing anarchy into society,” Modi said. Modi assured that the party will fulfil every promise made to the voters. INSIDE ALMOST ALL OF AAP TOP DECK FACES MASSIVE DRUBBING I P5 There is relief of liberating Delhi from ‘AAP-da’. I thank all Delhiites for putting their faith in ‘Modi ki guarantee’ - Narendra Modi, Prime Minister MIDDLE-CLASS ODYSSEY BEHIND BJP LANDSLIDE I P4 MOOD SWINGS: BJP OFFICE DECKED UP, AAP DESERTED I P3 BJP CONQUERS DELHI DEHATS, WINS ALL 28 RURAL SEATS I P4 GUESSING GAME ON AS FOCUS SHIFTS TO CM PICK A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi THE BJP fought the Delhi elections without a chief ministerial face. Now that it has won a two-thirds majority, the big question is: who will head the party’s first government in the capital in 27 years? Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the Central leadership will take the CM call. Several names have been doing the rounds in recent days, including Bansuri Swaraj, Virendra Sachdeva, Pravesh Verma, Vijender Gupta, Manoj Tiwari, Satish Upadhyay, Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Rekha Gupta. Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of the late Sushma Swaraj, has a strong reputation among the party’s state and central leadership. Her mother was the last BJP chief minister of Delhi. Sachdeva, as the party’s Delhi Rekha Gupta and Virendra Sachdeva president, enjoys support of the central leadership. Pravesh Verma could be the choice if the BJP opts for a Jat leader. Manoj Tiwari is a popular fig- ure among Purvanchali voters in Delhi and enjoys significant support due to his career as a Bhojpuri film star. Satish Upadhyay a former Delhi BJP presi, dent, has held various party positions since the 1990s. Vijender Gupta, a three-time MLA and Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly could , be considered for his extensive legislative experience. Manjinder Singh Sirsa is a NAAC debars graft-tainted team; new system to grade HEIs EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE AAP’s Chaudhary Ahmad defeated the BJP’s Anil Kumar Sharma in Seelampur by 42,477 votes Surprise AAP sweep AAP’s onward march continued. It added 0.5% to its vote share. Congress lost further ground by polling just 4.26% votes been decided to review all recent review visits by these seven members to any of the higher education institutions (HEIs), whose accreditation grading results have not been declared. The EC also decided to not only summarily cancel KLEF’s accreditation process but also debar it from applying for accreditation for five years. The CBI had arrested three top officials of KLEF over allegations that they had offered bribes to NAAC’s peer review team member to secure A++ accreditation rating. NAAC evaluates the quality of education and infrastructure in universities and colleges on a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) from 1.51 to 4.00 and grades them for five years from ‘A++’ to ‘C’. HEIs without accreditation are graded ‘D’. Following the case, NAAC has proposed to launch the Basic (Binary) Accreditation in April/May 2025, followed by Maturitybased Graded Levels (MBGL). Special committees are working on the preparation of framework and methodology for MBGL, the NAAC release said. The newly proposed frameworks will be backed by the use of advanced IT-based features to infuse objectivity in assessment and eliminate any unfair practices, NAAC said. For those HEIs who have al- EC of NAAC has decided that the current accreditation process of involved university in the CBI case is summarily cancelled, and the University will be debarred for 5 years from applying for accreditation NAAC statement ready submitted their applications for accreditation (Cycle 1) or for upgrading their accreditation rankings (Cycle 2 or above), the NAAC EC has decided the following: HEIs in Cycle 1 will be given an option to opt for basic accreditation, and their previously paid fees, if any, may be adjusted against their future application. It has decided to allow HEIs in Cycle 2 and above to retain the validity of their present grade until the Basic accreditation and MBGL are launched. They may then choose either of the two (Basic or MBGL) based on their preparedness. prominent Punjabi face in Delhi politics. Rekha Gupta has extensive public service experience. She was a councillor in the past. Rekha defeated AAP’s Vandana Kumari at Shalimar Bagh. If recent decisions by the party following decisive victories in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan are anything to go by, it may consider someone from the OBC or Jat communities as chief minister. EXPRESS READ BJP takes back Stalin’s DMK wins Milkipur from SP Erode East bypoll BJP candidate Chandrabhanu Paswan on Saturday won the Milkipur bypolls in Uttar Pradesh by a margin of 61,710 votes. While Paswan polled over 1.46 lakh votes, his nearest rival, Samajwadi Party’s Ajit Prasad, got 84,687 votes. | P10 WITH THIS ISSUE +7.05 SEATS AAP SWING FACTOR PARTY 2020 PARTY The DMK in Tamil Nadu extended its winning run in elections on Saturday by emerging victorious in the Erode East bypoll with a massive margin against actorpolitician Seeman’s NTK, a victory that should come as a boost to the M K Stalin-led party. LOST AND FOUND PLUS 12 PAGES EXCLUSIVE VOICES Pushpesh Pant Ravi Shankar Ajai Sahni Sunaina Anand Shampa Dhar-Kamath Prabhu Chawla Shankkar Aiyar Geetha Ravichandran