Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party has made a spectacular debut in the Delhi election.
The BJP ended its Super Sunday just a few inches short of the finish line in Delhi. It stacked up 32 of the capital's 70 seats, four short of the majority it needs to form the government.
(BJP's Super Sunday: 4-0)The party has said it will stake claim only if it is able to gather legitimate support to bridge that deficit. Dr Harsh Vardhan, the BJP's candidate for chief minister, said, "I am not going to directly approach anybody, wont indulge in horse-trading."
"If transparent support is not possible, then the constitutional process will take its course," senior leader Arun Jaitley said, after a strategy meeting attended by senior BJP leaders, including party chief Rajnath Singh and prime ministerial candidate
Narendra Modi.
If no party is able to prove majority, President's Rule could be imposed in the capital, setting the stage for fresh elections within six months.
The show-stopper of today's Delhi result,
Arvind Kejriwal, has made it clear he will not support the BJP. He has also described as "a joke" the suggestion that his Aam Aadmi Party could form government with the support of the Congress that he bitterly fought. "Let the Lt. Governor decide what happens in Delhi next. We will be a responsible opposition," Mr Kejriwal told NDTV.
(Watch)In its debut, his party has won 28 seats, just four less than the BJP. The incumbent Congress was reduced to a humiliating eight seats.
A year ago, Mr Kejriwal ignored the advice of one-time mentor Anna Hazare and derision across a spectrum of political parties to launch his Aam Aadmi Party or AAP. He positioned it as the antidote to what he described as corrupt and self-serving political parties.
He was dismissed as a non-contender till right before the election. "They are not even on our radar,"
Sheila Dikshit, who resigned as chief minister this morning, had said recently.
It proved to be a ghastly miscalculation.
Ms Dikshit lost the New Delhi constituency by more than 20,000 votes to Mr Kejriwal.