Election Result 2019: BJP candidate Gautam Gambhir is leading from East Delhi, according to early trends.
Former cricketer and BJP candidate Gautam Gambhir is leading from East Delhi, early trends at 9.30 am for the Lok Sabha election results show. Mr Gambhir is contesting against AAP's Atishi and Congress's Arvinder Singh Lovely in the constituency.
During the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in East Delhi, Atishi had accused Mr Gambhir of circulating derogatory pamphlets that attacked her personally.
The BJP candidate denied the allegations and responded with a defamation notice, to which Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia also shot a similar counter-threat.
Mr Gambhir put out a series of tweets accusing AAP of making up the allegations in a desperate plan to try and win the election. Speaking to NDTV, he alleged that AAP had circulated the pamphlets.
He also sent a notice to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Atishi demanding an "unconditional apology" after the Aam Aadmi Party accused him of circulating the pamphlets.
Atishi broke down at a press conference called by AAP, where leaders displayed a pamphlet full of religious and sexist attacks on the candidate. "If Gambhir can stoop so low to defeat a strong woman like me, how can he ensure security for women as an MP?" asked the 37-year-old Oxford alumnus.
"If you prove your allegations, then this moment I will give up politics. If some say I can't withdraw from the case now, then even if I win, I will resign on the first day. Will Kejriwal accept the same challenge," Mr Gambhir had said.
In the weeks before voting day in Delhi, Atishi and Gautam Gambhir's battle intensified as the AAP sought his candidature's disqualification on allegations that the former cricketer was registered as a voter at two different places in the national capital. Gautam Gambhir had hit back, saying he only has a single voter identity card from Rajendra Nagar.
Gautam Gambhir joined the BJP in March when the party was yet to announce the names of several candidates. "It is a significant induction," Union Minister Arun Jaitley had said.