New Delhi: The BJP staged a thumping comeback in Delhi after more than 26 years as it won 48 of the 70 seats in the Assembly polls on Saturday. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) secured victories from 22 seats and the Congress drew a blank for a third straight time.
AAP candidate from Matia Mahal Aaley Mohammad Iqbal registered the highest victory margin of 42,724 votes in the polls, defeating BJP’s Deepti Indora, according to the Election Commission’s (EC) data.
BJP’s Chandan Kumar Choudhary won the Sangam Vihar seat by the lowest margin of 344 votes. The BJP’s vote share was 45.56%, while the AAP secured 43.57% votes and the Congress’s poll percentage was 6.34.
BJP’s Parvesh Verma emerged as a giant-slayer with his victory against AAP supremo and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a fierce contest from the New Delhi seat by a margin of 4,089 votes.
Amid the BJP’s sweeping victory, Chief Minister Atishi and three Ministers in the outgoing AAP government – Gopal Rai, Mukesh Ahlawat and Imran Hussain – managed to secure wins. CM Atishi has won from the Kalkaji seat defeating BJP rival Ramesh Bidhuri by 3,521 votes at the end of the twelfth rounds of counting.
The Congress was decimated in the Delhi elections, failing to open its account in the 70-member assembly for a third consecutive time and its key candidates suffering crushing defeats. The Congress also asserted that it would form a government in the national capital in 2030.
Results of the Delhi Assembly election are not a vindication of Prime Minister’s Narendra Modi’s policies but a referendum on Arvind Kejriwal and AAP, the Congress said on Saturday (February 8, 2025) as it vowed to bounce back from another whitewash.
The voting for the Delhi Assembly Elections 2025 concluded on February 5 with an overall voter turnout of 60.39%. The highest voter turnout was in Mustafabad (69%). Lowest was in Karol Bagh (47.40%).
Parvesh Verma, the son of former chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, told reporters that the credit for his “victory” belonged to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the people of Delhi.
Both AAP and Congress also had a chance for an alliance in neighbouring Haryana, but as the grand old party’s state leadership was against any tie-up with AAP both went separately, the BJP which was battling anti-incumbency managed to score a historic victory.
In Delhi, despite some indications of a tie-up as both parties had during the Lok Sabha polls, the talks did not fructify owing to pressure from the local Congress leadership. The result is for everyone to see. Though the tie-up won’t have guaranteed a victory, but it could have kept the allies together.
The India bloc’s other constituents primarily Samajwadi Party, Trinamool, Shiv Sena, NCP factions had supported AAP as they wanted to pool resources. The Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s stringent attack on AAP and Kejriwal brought bitterness between the two parties. Gandhi singled out AAP for his attack questioning its record on corruption, construction of Sheesh Mahal, and crumbling infrastructure.
Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah, apparently exasperated at the results, took a jibe at both AAP and Congress, “keep fighting.”
While the Congress will make assessment as to how much their decision to contest alone will help the party to revive its fortunes, both have a future together as they jointly take on NDA in the Parliament and other states.
After the loss is Delhi, the focus will shift to other states, Bihar, which goes to polls later this year, and other states – Assam, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Pudducherry which will face assembly polls next year.
BJP stages thumping comeback in Delhi
