12 Years Later, Arvind Kejriwal’s Sheila Dikshit Moment. Courtesy: Her Son

New Delhi:

The big headline in this Delhi election is BJP’s Parvesh Verma defeating Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. But behind the story is a subplot of how Congress’s Sandeep Dikshit, former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s son, managed to ensure Mr Kejriwal’s defeat even though he finished third.

For the New Delhi constituency, this is a deja vu of sorts. Former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit won the seat, then called Gole Market, in 1998 and 2003. After delimitation, the seat was called New Delhi and Ms Dikshit won it in 2008. In the 2013 polls, Mr Kejriwal jumped into the poll arena. Riding high on popularity after the India Against Corruption movement, the AAP leader trumped the three-term Chief Minister by over 25,000 votes, effectively ending her political career, and emerged as a giant slayer. The AAP’s 2013 victory also removed the Congress from power. 

Twelve years later, AAP’s national convener is now the Goliath defeated by the BJP’s David — 47-year-old Parvesh Verma. But another story is unfolding in the numbers. Mr Kejriwal has lost to Mr Verma by a margin of 4,089 votes. And