Delhi Congress chief quits after party decimated in assembly polls

Delhi Congress chief Subhash Chopra on Tuesday resigned from his post, taking moral responsibility for the party's debacle in the assembly polls. The Congress drew a blank for the second time in a row and reduced its vote share from 9.7 percent in 2015 to 4.27 percent this time.

"I take moral responsibility for the party's debacle and have resigned," he said.

The grand old party, which ruled Delhi for 15 years on the trot under former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, was out of the race in each of the 70 constituencies by distant margins with 63 of its candidates losing their security deposits.

The Congress did not win any seat in the 2015 assembly elections but had managed to garner a 9.7 per cent vote share. This time, it stood decimated further after it ceded its vote bank.

Only three candidates—Arvinder Singh Lovely from Gandhi Nagar, Devender Yadav from Badli and Abhishek Dutt from Kasturba Nagar—could save their deposits. 

"I worked for 20-21 hours everyday, but I am not tired yet. The Delhi Congress will continue to fight,” he said.

The security deposit of a candidate is forfeited if he/she fails to secure one-sixth of the total valid votes cast in a constituency. Most of the Congress candidates got less than five per cent of the total votes polled in their respective constituencies.

Chopra's daughter Shivani Chopra, who was the party candidate from Kalkaji, also could not save her deposit.

With inputs from PTI