Delhi Rajinder Nagar by-election results 2022: AAP’s Durgesh Pathak wins, says party MLA

AAP candidate Durgesh Pathak won the Rajinder Nagar assembly by-election by 11,555 votes over his immediate rival, BJP’s Rajesh Bhatia, claimed party MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj on Sunday.

The official confirmation, however, is still awaited. Pathak’s lead was over 10,000 votes after nine rounds of counting. Numbers showed that at the end of the sixth round of counting, Pathak was leading over Bhatia by a margin of nearly 3,000 votes, which rose to over 5,000 by the end of seventh round and then further to over 10,000 votes at the end of ninth round of counting.

At the beginning of the counting, Pathak was leading with over 1,500 votes, but the margin reduced to 1,153 by the end of fifth round.

After the ninth round of counting, Pathak had secured 60.24 per cent of the votes counted, according to the official data shared by authorities.

Bhatia was behind him with a 36.02 per cent share of the votes counted in the ninth round.

Congress candidate Prem Lata was trailing with a meagre 2.25 per cent vote share in the same round.

Bypoll to the crucial assembly seat had taken place on June 23 with a low turnout of 43.75 per cent. Fourteen candidates threw their hats in the fray, which has largely been seen as a battle between a confident AAP and a spirited BJP.

The counting of votes began at 8am amid tight security arrangements.