New Delhi, Feb, 09
All three Sikh candidates of the BJP who contested the Delhi Assembly elections emerged victorious with one of them even beating AAP leader and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia.
BJP leader Tarwinder Singh Marwah, who was earlier with the Congress, defeated Sisodia by a slim margin of 675 votes from the Jangpura seat. Sisodia had shifted from the Patparganj seat to Jangpura this time.
Conceding defeat, Sisodia told reporters, “Party workers fought well, we all did hard work. People have supported us as well. But, I lost by 600 votes. I congratulate the candidate who won. I hope he will work for the constituency.”
A former Congress leader, Marwah had been a three-time MLA (1998-2013) from Jangpura. In 2013 elections, he finished second behind AAP’s Maninder Singh Dhir, in 2015 and 2020 polls, he came third. He was nominated by the saffron party for the 2025 elections.
In a post on X, Sisodia wrote, “I heartily thank the people of Delhi, who gave me the opportunity to serve them for 12 years and shape future of their children. If the education system needs to be improved, then politics is the only way to do it. That is why I have dedicated my life to education and will continue to work for it in the future too. Jai Hind.”
The second big winner for the BJP among its Sikh candidates was Manjinder Singh Sirsa, one of the top five billionaire candidates as per a report of election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms. He contested from the Rajouri Garden seat, a segment with high numbers of Punjabi and Sikh voters. Sirsa was pitted against AAP’s Dhanwati Chandela, another billionaire candidate. During the counting, Sirsa took an early and ended with a resounding victory by a margin of 18,190 votes.
Speaking to mediapersons after his victory, Sirsa, the BJP national secretary, said, “I thank all voters of Rajouri Garden and Delhi for giving a huge mandate to the party. The credit for this victory goes to PM Narendra Modi. The people of Delhi have gained freedom from the ‘AAP-da’ government.”
Slamming AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, who lost the election against BJP’s Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, Sirsa said, “I am concerned that Kejriwal will blame his loss on EVMs.”
Sirsa also took out a victory rally in the Rajouri Garden segment. The third Sikh candidate, Arvinder Singh Lovely, who had defected from the Congress before the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, won from the Gandhi Nagar Assembly seat.
Lovely was first elected from the seat in 1998 as the youngest MLA. He continued to represent the seat till 2013, followed by a string of defeats with the emergence of AAP in Delhi’s political spectrum.
