New Delhi: After trailing briefly in the Okhla constituency, the Aam Aadmi Party has strengthened its lead with over 5,700 votes with a vote share of over 60 per cent at the end of third round of counting.
After two rounds of counting, the trends showed AAP’s candidate from the seat, Amanatullah Khan, trailing with over two hundred votes. However, in the third round, Khan gained momentum and took a strong lead of 5,703 votes over BJP’s Braham Singh.
After the first round of counting Braham Singh had received 3,269 votes, while Amanatullah Khan trailed with just 3,075 votes.
Second round of counting reinforced Singh’s lead with the BJP candidate receiving 3,838 votes, while Khan getting only 2,399 votes.
However in the third round, Singh received only 83 votes while Khan managed to get 7,419 votes getting a strong overall lead of 5,703 votes, taking his vote share to 60.55% while Singh managed only 33.44 per cent share.
While the Election Commission’s website shows that 23 rounds of counting are pending, Amanatullah Khan has claimed that he is already leading by 72 thousand votes.
“After 13 rounds of counting, I am leading by 72 thousand votes,” Khan tweeted.
Shaheen Bagh, the venue of the ongoing anti-CAA protest and a part of the Okhla constituency, had witnessed a low turnout with 58.84 per cent voting.
The Okhla seat was seen as a battlefield of gladiators from the Congress and the AAP with Congress puting up veteran Parvez Hashmi, a four-time MLA from the constituency.
The seat was with the Congress till 2015 when the AAP’s Amanatullah wrested it after defeating veteran Asif Mohammad Khan.
However, as per initial trends, the Congress seems to have slipped to the third position.