New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS): The Congress Sunday accepted defeat in elections held in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi and said it will introspect why it lost.

"Our congratulations to those who have won in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan," party leader Jayanthi Natarajan said. "People have given them a mandate. Our wishes go to them."

She added: "In Delhi, we accept the verdict and will examine the results. We will find out what has gone wrong."

Election officials said the BJP was on the road to retaining Madhya Pradesh and ousting the Congress in Rajasthan. In Chhattisgarh, the BJP and Congress were locked in a close contest. The Congress was in the third spot in Delhi after the BJP and Aam Aadmi Party.

AAP's performance surprising, says BJP

The BJP admitted Sunday that the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) stunning performance in Delhi elections was "surprising" but maintained that it would form a government.

"We always thought of AAP as competition and we were expecting it to get double digit seats but this is surprising," BJP state president Vijay Goel told the media.

"We have done all the hard work in Delhi in the last 15 years but now AAP is reaping the benefits," he added.

Goel said he was confident the Bharatiya Janata Party would take power in Delhi.

"We will get at least 38 (out of 70) seats in Delhi and will form the government."

Election officials said the BJP was leading in 33 constituencies and the AAP in 26, relegating the Congress to a poor third at seven seats.

Four seats could go to independents and smaller groups.

AAP celebrates in Delhi

Workers of the Aam Aadmi Party began celebrating as it was leading in 24 of the 66 seats for which trends were available at 10 a.m. as counting got underway Sunday morning of the votes cast in the elections to the 70-member Delhi assembly.

The party activists waved flags, raised slogans across the national capital celebrating the success.

Delhi voted Dec 1 to pick a new assembly.