"My Sixth Sense Is Saying...": BJP's Manoj Tiwari After Voting In Delhi

As Delhi voted today, state BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said "vibrations" and "sixth sense" told him his party would come to power in the capital. Beaming confidence that under his leadership, a BJP victory was coming, the Bhojpuri filmstar-singer-politician, however, avoided any response on whether he would be chief minister.

"Today I sense vibrations from all sides. Those who believe in sixth sense...today it is my sixth sense telling me that this time, a BJP government will be formed," Mr Tiwari told reporters near a polling station, a marigold garland around his neck.

He said his mother, who had come from their village in Varanasi on February 1 for his birthday, was on a fast and had pledged to leave only after today's vote.

"I have my mother's aashirvad (blessings) and the people's blessings. This is the first time an election is taking place with me at the helm of the BJP," Mr Tiwari said.

In the 2015 election, Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) pulled off a surprise by scoring 67 of Delhi's 70 assembly seats. The BJP was reduced to three and the Congress, which had ruled Delhi for three straight terms, scored a duck.

Since then, the BJP has won all seven seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Asked how many seats he thought the BJP would win this time, Mr Tiwari said: "We will win 50-plus seats and form a government with people blessing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership."

Who will be chief minister?

"Ho jayega, bahut accha hoga (There will be someone, someone very good)," he replied. He kept repeating the sentence, shutting down any further questions about a chief ministerial candidate.

As BJP chief, Mr Tiwari, a Lok Sabha MP, has not ruled himself out as a frontrunner for the top post. But he says it is the party's strategy not to name anyone before the polls. On Friday, he visited temples in Delhi to pray for his party's victory and also played cricket on a road.

The Delhi election results will be declared on Tuesday.