DELHI HAS VOTED; AND, DELHI HAS LOST

DELHI has voted. Data says Delhi has not voted as aggressively as in 2014 or even 2019. The question is, has Delhi voted differently from the previous polls just in numbers or in spirit too. One should try and find an answer.

It's often been said that Delhi is the barometer of the national mood specially as reflected in the results of the Lok Sabha polls. Delhi has always voted overwhelmingly for the party which has formed government at the Centre. This trend has been there since 1971, when the Congress won seven but in 1977 Janata Party (fighting under the name and symbol of Bharatiya Lok Dal) wrestingall seven reflecting the national mood.

In 1980 the trumpet for the return of the Congress to power was firmly sounded in Delhi too, with the party winning six of the seven seats. The only exception was Atal Bihari Vajpayee then fighting under the Janata Party symbol.

SIDH The 1984 polls were fought in the shadow of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the subsequent sympathy wave in the favour of the Congress.

Replicating its 400plus performance nationally, the Congress won all the seven seats in the national Capital.

The turmoil of the 1990s, with the making and breaking of the alliances in post-Mandal politics, was also reflected in the results of Delhi. In 1989 following the Bofors controversy, Congress could retain just two whereas the BJP made a strong foray winning four with one going to its alliance partner Janata Dal.