Kiran Bedi, Looking for Reasons for Her Loss, Now Blames 'Fatwa'

New Delhi:

Kiran Bedi  today amplified the perception that she is a sore loser by suggesting that she lost her constituency in East Delhi because a leading Muslim cleric had appealed to Muslims to support her political rival, the Aam Aadmi Party or AAP.  

Suggesting that the Election Commission examine her complaint, Ms Bedi, said, "(Then only)  will it  be clearly known whether the fatwa had an impact on the voters or not."

Ms Bedi, 64, was the BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate for the capital, which turned in unprecedented numbers to AAP, giving the party 67 of 70 seats and its leader, Arvind Kejriwal, a second chance to govern the city-state. After the BJP's decimation, Ms Bedi declared, "I have not lost, the BJP has lost.  It is a national party, it should introspect."

Ms Bedi ran from Krishna Nagar, which had been won by the BJP for five consecutive elections.  She said today that after an early lead, she began trailing when the counting of votes began in a Muslim-majority area. "I was told that during the vote count in Krishna Nagar, I was leading but when the counting of votes of the area where the fatwa might have an impact was carried out, it started to drop,"  Ms Bedi said.

The evening before Delhi voted, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of India's biggest mosque, the Jama Masjid, said he wanted Muslims to support Mr Kejriwal's party in the interests of secularism.

AAP leaders were quick to denounce his statement as an unacceptable attempt to divide voters along religious lines.

AAP's SK Bagga defeated Kiran Bedi by about 2,000 votes.