Voting for Congress like voting for BJP: CM Kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday appealed to people not to vote for the Congress as doing that is akin to making the BJP win, remarks which come in the backdrop of Congress showing signs of revival in the national capital.

“In Delhi, voting for Congress means cutting the votes of AAP and making BJP win,” Mr Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi. At a gathering earlier this week, Mr Kejriwal had said there was no benefit of giving votes to the BJP and Congress — as both parties do not take care of Delhiites. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won all seven seats in the national capital, defeating Congress and AAP candidates. During that time, and even in 2015 Assembly polls, Mr Kejriwal had used the same line, urging people not to vote for the Congress and “divide” the votes.

The Congress suffered heavy setbacks in the 2013 Assembly poll, when the AAP made its debut with 28 seats. In that election, the vote share of the BJP was 33.07 per cent, followed by the AAP (29.49 per cent) and the Congress (24.55 per cent). The Congress was again relegated to the third position in all Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.

The vote share of the Congress shrunk to 9.65 per cent, while the AAP bagged 54.34 per cent votes, followed by the BJP, which got 32.19 per cent votes. However, in April 2017 Rajouri Garden by-poll, though the BJP wrested the seat from the AAP, the Congress came second while the AAP candidate lost his deposit. In the 2017 MCD polls conducted a month later, the Congress vote share rose sharply to 21.28 per cent.