Two years after he was crowed the ‘Giant Killer’ for trouncing the BJP in Delhi Assembly elections, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal stared at an uncertain political future as he lost spectacularly loss to the same party in the civic elections on Wednesday.

After disappointing performances in the State polls of Punjab and Goa, and a crushing defeat in a Delhi Assembly by-poll where the party lost its deposit in the seat it once held, the results of Municipal Corporation of Delhi are a big blow to Kejriwal. The BJP, on the other hand, scored its third successive victory in the city’s civic polls to retain control over three corporations. BJP President Amit Shah asserted that the people of Delhi chose Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership over Kejriwal’s “negative politics”.

“This is an unprecedented victory for the BJP. I express my gratitude to the people of Delhi. This is the victory of Modiji’s leadership,” Shah told reporters in Kolkata.

Shah ran an aggressive campaign in Delhi, pressing into action Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahastrabudhe, along with Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Jitendra Singh and Sanjiv Balyan, to monitor and coordinate the elections. The party, which has ruled the Delhi corporations for a decade, had denied tickets to all its sitting councillors to battle anti-incumbency.

The Congress’s descent into political irrelevance continued, with the party securing the third spot. The Congress’s city chief Ajay Maken offered to resign in the wake of criticism over the party’s poor showing and the desertions of former MLA and Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely and Youth Congress leader Amit Malik.

Decisive win According to trends and results that were still pouring in till late evening, the BJP was leading or had won in about 181 out of the total 270 wards for which elections were held on April 23. AAP was a distant second with about 48 wards in its kitty while the Congress secured about 30 wards till trends last came in. Distributed for the three civic bodies – North, East and South Delhi Municipal Corporations – the BJP’s share was 64, 47 and 70 respectively while the AAP secured 21, 11 and 16 wards. Congress was set to get 15, 3 and 11 wards respectively for the three corporations.

Although Kejriwal was mum on the threat to carry out a movement against Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), his party still blamed the machines for its loss. “I congratulate BJP on their victory in all three MCDs. My government looks forward to working with MCDs for the betterment of Delhi,” tweeted Kejriwal.

Senior minister in the Delhi government Gopal Rai said an “EVM wave” is sweeping across the city.

But Kejriwal is certain to face internal dissent with some of his former colleagues lashing out at his style of functioning and “authoritarianism”.

“You have become so vicious and ugly because of your hunger for power,” said AAP’s former Maharashtra unit chief Mayank Gandhi in an open letter to Kejriwal. According to academic Yogender Yadav, who now heads Swaraj India, people’s anger against the AAP had overtaken their disappointment with the BJP in Delhi.

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