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Updated: May 25, 2019 02:14 IST

A day after the Congress was pushed to a distant second in the national capital, most candidates said they do not consider the results a “personal failure”, rather it was the “ Narendra Modi wave” that spoiled their chances.

Delhi Congress chief and former chief minister Sheila Dikshit said the party’s defeat was disappointing but individual candidates could not be blamed as the results were majorly affected by the larger results of the country.

“There was definitely a wave and Delhi’s results were affected by the scenario in the country. That does not mean that we are reflecting on our performance,” Dikshit, who was the Congress’s candidate from North East Delhi, said. She lost to BJP’s sitting MP and state unit president Manoj Tiwari by 3,66,102 votes.

The party’s candidate from Chandni Chowk, JP Agarwal, who put on the best performance of the lot, managed to restrict the victory margin of BJP’s Harsh Vardhan to 2,28,145 votes. He said he had given his “100% into these elections”. “I have lost before, too, but this time was different. The larger political narrative in the country showed in Delhi as well,” Agarwal said.

Congress, however, improved its performance from the 2014 polls by pushing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the third position. However, the disappointing bit, many candidates said, was the high margins by which they lost.

“As a candidate, I would consider this a victory. People in East Delhi did not vote for the BJP candidate. They voted for the Prime Minister. And they rejected the lip service of the AAP,” Congress’s East Delhi candidate Arvinder Singh Lovely said.

Lovely said despite his defeat, he will continue to work for the people of East Delhi.

Boxer Vijender Singh, who contested from South Delhi, conceded defeat gracefully and said winning and losing was part of the game.“As a sportsperson, I have seen defeat but I would like to thank the people of south Delhi for the immense love they showered me with throughout the campaign period,” he said.