Modi Celebrates Landslide New Delhi Win

AFP | India
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India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) greets supporters as he arrives at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters to celebrate the party's win in the Delhi legislative assembly election in New Delhi.
AFP | New Delhi, India

India's Hindu-nationalist ruling party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, celebrated a landslide victory yesterday in key elections in the capital province, Delhi. The former chief minister, a key opposition figurehead to the premier, suffered a crushing defeat as the BJP secured a stunning two-thirds majority of the 70-seat assembly, winning 47 seats, according to election results.

"Good governance has won," Modi said after the city's vote results from Wednesday’s election were counted. Supporters gathered outside the BJP headquarters waving flags and posters of Modi to celebrate the victory. The BJP has not controlled the local legislature in the capital since 1998, making this a symbolic and strategically important win.

"We will leave no stone unturned in ensuring the overall development of Delhi and making the lives of residents better," Modi said in a post on social media.

Arvind Kejriwal, who lost his seat to Modi's BJP, was the former chief minister and leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). His party had governed the sprawling megacity of more than 30 million people for most of the past decade. Kejriwal, in a video statement, said, "We accept the verdict and congratulate the BJP," acknowledging the public's support for Modi's vision of progress.

BJP supporters, chanting slogans, danced for joy outside the party headquarters.

The counting is in its final stages, and BJP's Parvesh Sahib Singh, widely tipped to be the capital's next chief minister, defeated Kejriwal. "Delhi has chosen development," Singh said in his victory statement. Singh, 47, comes from a family of politicians, with his father having served as Delhi's chief minister in the early 1990s.

Singh, a former national lawmaker, had courted controversy in 2022 when he appeared to call for a "total boycott" of Muslims, although he did not explicitly refer to the community by name.

"The Delhi mandate shows that people can't be misled with lies every time," said BJP interior minister and stalwart Amit Shah in a statement.

Kejriwal's AAP suffered damaging losses, and BJP supporters celebrated the victory with enthusiasm.