NEW DELHI — Analysts on Tuesday said the scale of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's defeat in Delhi was a wake-up call for the government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party won just three of the 70 seats in the Delhi assembly in elections held over the weekend. Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (Common Man Party) won 67 seats, according to official results released hours after Modi conceded defeat and promised the city's new leader his government's “complete support”. “Thanks for the unprecedented victory,” Kejriwal, a former tax official-turned politician, told hundreds of cheering supporters outside AAP headquarters in Delhi. “But it's very scary, the kind of support the people of Delhi have extended and the mandate we have been given, I appeal to the AAP workers and leaders not to be arrogant,” Kejriwal said, as supporters showered him in petals. Congress, which has dominated politics since India's independence, suffered another mauling after being thumped at the general election, winning no seats. “Modi came to power in May making promises to people. But he has nothing to show on the ground even though eight months have passed,” said Zoya Hasan, a political analyst with New Delhi's Jawarhalal Nehru University. “Something dramatic has happened,” a dejected BJP spokesman Nalin Kohli said. One Congress party leader, Rita Bahuguna, said the vote amounted to “a referendum on Modi's arrogant style of functioning, communalizing politics in the country.” Analyst Amulya Ganguli said people were tired of waiting for the reforms the BJP had promised ahead of last year's general election. “There is no doubt that Modi's popularity has dwindled,” he said. “People in Delhi want development and Modi has nationally failed to deliver on his promises. There is a likelihood Delhi voters didn't fall for him again.” “The AAP is going to write a chapter in history, in the history of politics,” party supporter Nandidi, a homemaker who goes by one name, said while celebrating outside party headquarters. — Agencies
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