New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS): As counting progressed Sunday, the BJP and the AAP were neck and neck for several hours before the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to gain a lead of a few seats.

A couple of hours into the counting, it was clear that the Congress, after three terms in office, had been quite categorically rejected by Delhi's voters and the real battle would be between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Of the 70 constituencies in Delhi, some witnessed an intense fight. Leaders of established parties who were earlier considered invincible found themselves facing defeat at the hands of candidates of a party launched just a year ago.

The R.K. Puram seat in south Delhi witnessed a fierce battle between AAP's Shazia Ilmi and BJP's Anil Sharma while incumbent Congress MLA Barkha Singh, who is also the chairperson of the Delhi Women Commission, failed to make a mark.

While Sharma gained a healthy lead in the morning, Ilmi managed to overtake him by noon. In the end, though, it was Sharma who managed to win by a margin of 326 votes.

Similarly, the Laxmi Nagar seat in east Delhi saw a close contest between Congress heavyweight A.K. Walia, the sitting MLA, and AAP's Vinod Kumar Binny.

Walia and Binny kept overtaking each other all through the day, but in the end, it was Binny who defeated Walia by 7,752 votes.

Similarly, BJP's incumbent MLA from Delhi Cantt, Karan Singh Tanwar, was defeated by AAP's Surender Singh, a former NSG commando, by a margin of 355 votes.

Another constituency that witnessed a close fight was Sadar Bazar where Som Dutt of AAP defeated BJP's Jai Prakash by 796 votes.

Also, sitting MLA of Sangam Vihar in south Delhi - Shiv Charan Lal Gupta - lost to AAP's Dinesh Mohaniya by 777 votes while Mahinder Yadav of AAP routed BJP's Krishan Gahlot by 405 votes in west Delhi's Vikaspuri.