NEW DELHI: A new political party pledging to sweep corruption from the Indian capital made surprising gains in state elections, grabbing a huge share of votes from the incumbent Congress party and leaving Delhi with no clear leader on Monday — and no party willing to form a coalition.

The fledgling Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man’s Party, seized 28 of Delhi’s 70 assembly seats just nine months after its formation. The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party took first place with 31, while Congress was left with a meager eight, a stunning decline from its previous 43.

All three ruled out entering into a governing alliance, leaving the capital in a leadership lurch and raising the possibility of new elections.

“Since I don’t have the magic number of 36, I really cannot be part of the government formation in Delhi,” the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, Harsh Vardhan, said after the election results were released late Sunday.

The Aam Aadmi Party was just as adamant about remaining on the outside.

“We are not going to form the government. We will sit in the opposition,” top AAP member Yogendra Yadav said, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. “We have not got a majority, so it is very surprising that the No. 1 party (BJP) is not ready to form the government and telling us to do so.” The statements seemed to suggest that neither party would seek to form an insecure minority government that would have to rely on outside support. The idea of poaching Congress members appeared anathema to both parties bent on giving the capital’s 17 million people a fresh start.

“I don’t believe in coalition politics,” said AAP’s founder, Arvind Kejriwal, a former tax accountant who last year organized enormous anti-corruption protests that helped make India’s systematic graft a subject of national outrage.

Delhi may be left with a nonpartisan caretaker administration until new elections can be held.