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Bawana bypoll: BJP MP Udit Raj to probe party's defeat

However, in Bawana, it not only finished third, its vote share also decreased by four percentage points compared to the 2015 assembly elections

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Post the AAP's massive victory in the Bawana by-polls, the BJP is now conducting an introspection to find out just what went wrong in their campaign. Sources say that the party has appointed Dr Udit Raj, MP from Delhi's North-West constituency to "probe" the loss and fix responsibility for the same.

The BJP had done well in the civic polls in April this year and the paprty's confidence was further boosted when it won the bypoll for the Rajouri Garden seat. However, in Bawana, it not only finished third, its vote share also decreased by four percentage points compared to the 2015 assembly elections.

For instance BJP candidate Ved Prakash polled 35834 votes, which is just 27.16 per cent of the total ballots cast. The party's vote share in 2015 was 31.40 per cent while the same was 46.72 per cent in 2014.

Shocked at the results, leaders are blaming "wrong candidature" as one of the major reasons. Prakash who had joined the BJP after falling foul with the Aam Aadmi Party before MCD polls, was seen as a "turncoat" by a lot of partymen, claims a local leader who worked closely with the district cadre during the Bawana polls.

"People felt deceived when he (Prakash) abandoned AAP and joined the BJP which triggered the elections. The vote count was bound to be affected because they felt he was a traitor," he says. The leader adds that Prakash's lack of popularity among villagers further lessened the chances of winning.

Reportedly, a lot of leaders had objected to Prakash's candidature and had even raised the matter with the party high command but the BJP went ahead with him.

Sources say, the party also failed to put up a united front during the campaign because of in-party rivalry and factionalism. It had roped in Union Minister Birender Singh and West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma to announce the beginning of the campaign. However, both of them did not turn up, which left many tongues wagging. "The canvassing was also "not well organised", which affected the final result.

"There was hardly any coordination. The acts were not in sync with what we were planning. We did as much as we could but one could do only so much to bring workers together," rued a senior district party leader.

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