Initial trends as displayed on TV show Gautam Gambhir is leading in East Delhi.

Just before the elections, even before BJP and Congress had announced their candidates, poll pundits were sure of a Atishi wave in East Delhi. Things don’t look as rosy for the AAP after the polling has finished. The East Delhi constituency gained prominence after AAP announced the Oxford-educated politician who was credited for bringing education reforms in Delhi schools.

After failed talks of an alliance with the Congress, the Congress party had announced Arvinder Singh Lovely as their candidate and BJP brought in former cricketer Gautam Gambhir. Lovely, who returned to the Congress fold this year after a short stint with the BJP, is expected to dent the vote share of Atishi. While both Congress and BJP have been equally strong in the constituency. In 2014, BJP’s Maheish Girri had won with a margin of more than 1,90,000 votes with AAP as the runner-up and Congress a distant third. Congress candidate Sandeep Dikshit won the seat in 2004 and 2009.

With some serious accusations, Atishi’s campaign focused on targeting Gambhir. Gambhir was accused of holding two voter cards and not declaring the same, a crime in the eyes of the law. A few days later, AAP leaders alleged Gambhir of distributing pamphlets maligning Atishi, questioning her religion, caste and character. Three days before the polling, Atishi broke down while reading the pamphlet in a press conference. The three cornered fight, however, is expected to work in Gambhir’s favour if there is a split of votes between Atishi and Lovely.