NEW DELHI: Civil services coach-turned-politician Avadh Ojha, who contested the Delhi Assembly elections from the Patparganj constituency on an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket, has lost to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Ravinder Singh Negi by a margin of 28,072 votes.
Ojha, making his political debut, secured 45,988 votes, while Negi clinched victory with 74,060 votes. Indian National Congress (INC) candidate Anil Kumar finished in third place with 16,549 votes.
Ojha, a well-known educator and UPSC coach, was inducted into AAP on December 2, 2024, in the presence of party chief Arvind Kejriwal and senior leader Manish Sisodia. He was chosen as the AAP candidate for Patparganj after former MLA Manish Sisodia shifted to contest from Jangpura.
Patparganj was once a Congress stronghold before AAP took control in 2013. Manish Sisodia won it in 2013, 2015, and 2020 before shifting to Jangpura in the 2025 elections.
In the previous election, Sisodia defeated BJP’s Ravinder Singh Negi with a narrow margin. This time, Negi, a seasoned politician and councillor from Vinod Nagar, turned the tables on AAP. He recently gained attention when Prime Minister Narendra Modi touched his feet at a public event, boosting his visibility among voters.
Congress fielded Anil Chaudhary, who previously won the seat in 2008. However, he failed to gain enough traction to challenge the two main contenders.
According to the Election Commission, the voter turnout in Patparganj was recorded at 57.74%. In the 2020 elections, the constituency had 2,31,461 registered voters, with 1,28,351 male voters, 1,03,105 female voters, and five voters from the third gender. The number of postal votes stood at 644 (488 deemed valid), with 151 service voters (127 men and 24 women).
Comparatively, in 2015, the total voter count was 2,14,368, reflecting a steady increase in voter participation over the years.
BJP has marked a historic victory in the 2025 Assembly elections, winning 48 out of 70 seats
