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BJP blanks out Congress in Delhi

The Congress today suffered a 'saffron wash' in the National Capital Territory of Delhi as all its seven candidates, including three former Union ministers -- Dr Manmohan Singh, Jagdish Tytler and R K Dhawan -- lost to their rivals from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

This is the first time the BJP has won all seven seats in the capital, wresting even the Karol Bagh (scheduled caste) seat it had lost to the Congress in 1998.

The Congress had made a clean sweep in 1984 in the wake of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and in 1971, when the erstwhile Bharatiya Jan Sangh finished second in all the seats.

The worst shock for the Congress was the defeat of former finance minister Dr Singh in South Delhi, finishing about 30,000 votes behind BJP politician Vijay Kumar Malhotra.

The biggest victory was won by former chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, who defeated Deep Chand Sharma of the Congress by more than 202,000 votes in Outer Delhi.

Congress candidate Jai Prakash Aggarwal lodged a complaint about discrepancies in two electronic voting machines in Chandni Chowk. But the Election Commission rejected the complaint and declared Vijay Goel of the BJP elected by 1,995 votes.

Jagmohan wins New Delhi

UNI

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