More than half of newly elected Delhi MLAs are first timers

With Aam Aadmi Party making a stunning debut with 28 MLAs - all of whom are first time legislators, the fifth Delhi Assembly will have as many as 40 fresh faces out of the total 70 members including 11 from the BJP and an independent.

Almost all AAP candidates were new to the poll arena but managed to trounce a number of heavyweights.

Leading the pack was AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, who toppled three-time Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit by a margin of 25,864 votes.

In the high-profile Malviya Nagar constituency, Somnath Bharti of AAP handed down a drubbing to not just Kiran Walia, who was the education minister in Dikshit’s cabinet, but also senior BJP state leader and former mayor Arti Mehra.

Health and Family Minister A K Walia too suffered a similar fate. He lost to Vinod Kumar Binny of AAP from Laxmi Nagar seat by around 8,000 votes where the BJP finished third.

Another Congress veteran swept away in the AAP wave was four-time MLA and PWD minister Rajkumar Chouhan. He lost to 26-year-old Rakhi Birla by 10,585 votes while BJP’s Ram Kishor Navariya finished third.

In another shocker for Congress, AAP’s Ashok Kumar breached the fort of former Delhi assembly Speaker Chaudhry Prem Singh, who never lost an election in Ambedkar Nagar in over five decades. Singh not only lost by around 17,000 votes but finished at the third position behind BJP’s Khushi Ram Chunar.

In Vikas Puri, AAP’s Mahinder Yadav sneaked through with a slender margin of 405 votes against BJP’s Krishan Gehlot.

BJP’s first-timers too had their share of glory. In Bawana, Gugan Singh prevailed over AAP’s Manoj by more than 25,000 votes. Neel Daman Khatri pocketed the Narela seat defeating BSP’s Virender by a margin of around 23,000 votes.

BJP-SAD’s joint candidate Harmeet Singh won the Kalkaji seat, pipping three-time Congress MLA Subhash Chopra by around 2000 votes.

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