NEW DELHI (TIP): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a huge victory in the Rajouri Garden Assembly bypoll in the national capital on April 13 handing a humiliating defeat to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which finished a distant third and even lost deposit.

BJP-Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) joint candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa bagged 40,602 seats, over 50% of the total votes polled, in a boost for the saffron party ahead of the 23 April municipal polls.

Congress’ Meenakshi Chandela finished second with 25,950 votes while AAP’s Harjeet Singh managed to get only 10,243 votes, less than one-sixth of the total votes polled, and lost deposit.

In terms of vote share, the Congress staged a turnaround of sorts by getting around 33% of the total votes cast,in a jump of over 21% over the 2015 Assembly polls.

Around 47% of the over 1.6 lakh electors of the west Delhi seat had cast their vote on 9 April.

With the victory, the BJP’s tally in the 70-member Delhi Assembly will become four. The Congress does not have any presence in the House.

The seat fell vacant early this year after AAP’s Jarnail Singh quit as MLA to contest the Punjab Assembly poll against SAD patron Parkash Singh Badal.

Delhi’s richest MLA

Sirsa will be the richest MLA in Delhi with declared assets of over Rs 185 crore.

By this distinction, Sirsa dislodges AAP’s Pramila Tokas who topped the list of wealthiest MLAs until now with declared assets of Rs 87 crore. Tokas is an MLA from RK Puram in south Delhi.

Sirsa, who had contested the assembly election in 2015 also, had declared assets of Rs 239 crore at that time. However, the worth of his assets has dropped by over 22% since then. Sirsa, who calls himself an “agriculturalist and businessman” on his affidavit filed in 2017, has declared moveable assets, such as money, cars, and other valuables worth almost Rs 89 crore, and immovable assets, such as agricultural land and commercial buildings worth over Rs 120 crore. He has also declared liabilities and other outstanding dues, like bank loans, worth approximately Rs 24 crore.

According to an analysis by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), 11 of the 70 Delhi MLAs had total assets worth more than Rs 10 crore after the assembly election in 2015.