Lost Rajouri Garden bypoll because Jarnail Singh left seat: Kejriwal

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said the party lost the Rajouri Garden bypoll as people were unhappy over MLA Jarnail Singh leaving the seat to contest Punjab polls but stressed this result would not impact the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections.

"There were several reasons why Jarnail Singh left the seat and went to fight Punjab Assembly elections. He has done a lot for the Sikh community. But the people of Rajouri Garden did not like the fact that he left the seat," he said.

"Even I was getting feedback that the people of the constituency were unhappy over Jarnail leaving in the middle of his term," Kejriwal added.

The Delhi Chief Minister, however, said that this defeat will have no impact in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections to be held on April 23.

However, the party's attempts to explain the loss has not gone down well with Jarnail, a journalist-turned-politician, who had shot to fame after hurling a shoe at former Home Minister P Chidambaram during a press conference.

Jarnail has said while it was the party's decision to field him in Punjab, it should also go for a deep and honest introspection.

The AAP yesterday suffered a humiliating defeat in the Rajouri Garden Assembly bypoll in the national capital. Its candidate Harjeet Singh managed to get only 10,243 votes, less than one-sixth of the total votes polled, and lost deposit.

The BJP-SAD joint candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa bagged 40,602 votes, over 50 per cent of the total votes polled.