Rajinder Nagar bypoll: AAP candidate heads towards victory after 15th round of counting

AAP candidate Durgesh Pathak seemed to be heading for a victory with a comfortable margin of nearly 11,000 votes over his immediate BJP rival Rajesh Bhatia after 15 rounds of counting on Sunday for the Rajinder Nagar assembly bypoll, according to official data.

The data showed that by the end of the 15th round, Pathak was leading with 10,911 votes over Bhatia.

Pathak's lead was of 10,225 votes over BJP's Bhatia after 14 rounds of counting which rose to 10,911 votes after 15 rounds. Numbers showed that at the end of the sixth round of counting, Pathak was leading over Bhatia by a margin of nearly 3,000 votes, which rose to over 5,000 by the end of the seventh round and then further to over 10,000 votes at the end of the ninth round of counting which continued in the 15th round too.

However, in the 13th round, Pathak's lead marginally dipped to 9,710 votes, but it rose to 10,225 votes in the 14th round of counting. At the beginning of the counting, Pathak was leading with over 1,500 votes, but the margin reduced to 1,153 votes by the end of the fifth round.

After the 15th round of counting, Pathak had secured 56.05 per cent of the votes counted, according to the official data shared by authorities.

Bhatia was behind him with 39.99 per cent share of the votes counted in the ninth round.

Congress candidate Prem Lata was trailing with a meagre 2.47 per cent vote share in the same round.

''LED screens have been put up at two locations for the public to view counting trends,'' Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Ranbir Singh said.

He said one LED screen each has been set up at two locations, including MC Primary School Budh Nagar and Chacha Bookstore, Shankar Road Market in New Rajinder Nagar.

The bypoll was necessitated in the wake of AAP leader Raghav Chadha leaving the seat after being elected to the Rajya Sabha recently. Chadha was the MLA from the Rajinder Nagar Assembly seat.

The bypoll to the crucial assembly seat had taken place on June 23 with a low turnout at 43.75 per cent. Fourteen candidates threw their hats in the fray, which has largely been seen as a battle between a confident AAP and a spirited BJP. Counting of votes began at 8 am amid tight security arrangements.

This was also the first electoral exercise in Delhi after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Twenty-four Covid-positive voters turned out to exercise their franchise in the bypoll, officials had said.

Of the total number of eligible voters for the bypoll, 92,221 are male, 72,473 female and four belong to the third gender.

Also, 1,899 voters in this assembly seat are in the 18-19 age group, according to the data shared by the office of the Delhi CEO.

A total of 190 polling stations, including 13 auxiliary ones, were set up at 21 locations, and ''very minor snags'' in EVMs were reported at few booths, and replacements were made accordingly, a senior official had said on the day of polling.

Covid-positive voters were allowed to vote in the last one hour after the regular voters had exercised their franchise following all safety protocols like masks and gloves.

The Rajinder Nagar bypoll turnout was even lower than the figures recorded in the Rajouri Garden bypoll (46.5 per cent) and Bawana bypoll (44.8 per cent), both held in 2017. In 2015 polls, the two Delhi assembly seats had registered a turnout of 72 per cent and 61.83 per cent, respectively. PTI KND AKM SRY

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)