Delhi Election 2025: With the Delhi Election campaign coming to an end on Monday evening, the political parties are making their last-ditch attempt to woo the voters. While the fight was primarily between the Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP, the out-of-question Congress has put up a fierce fight in the polls, targeting Arvind Kejriwal. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has led a rare personal attack on Kejriwal over corruption and failure to deliver on promises. However, Gandhi’s direct targeting of Kejriwal was a well-thought-out plan.
Not only did Rahul Gandhi single out Kejriwal during his poll rallies but countered by making videos on social media as well. Gandhi even equated Kejriwal with Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging lies and fake promises. Congress ruled Delhi between 1998 and 2013 but since the advent of the AAP, they have slipped to third position with a vote bank of just around five per cent. AAP, a newbie in politics, has not just replaced Congress in one state but two- Delhi and Punjab, thus hurting the grand old party badly.
अरविंद केजरीवाल जी शीशमहल में रहते हैं।
लेकिन जब ग़रीबों को उनकी ज़रूरत पड़ी तब वह कहीं नहीं दिखे।
जब दिल्ली में हिंसा हुई और अल्पसंख्यकों को उनकी ज़रूरत थी तब वह उनके साथ खड़े नहीं हुए।
साफ राजनीति करूंगा बोलकर उन्होंने दिल्ली में सबसे बड़ा शराब घोटाला किया! pic.twitter.com/apgElZxMhS
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 28, 2025
The AAP’s vote bank constitutes the majority of the Congress supporters. In the 2008, Delhi assembly polls, the Congress had bagged over 40% vote share compared to BJP’s 36%. In 2013 when AAP came into existence, the BJP got 33% vote, AAP 29% and Congress 24%. The scene became more clear in 2015 when AAP stormed to power with 54.3% votes and the BJP got 32.3% votes. However, the Congress took the biggest hit as its vote share plummeted to 9.7%. Five years later in 2020, AAP got 53.57% votes, BJP 38.51% but the Congress party’s vote bank further eroded to 4.6%. This showed that while the BJP’s core vote bank has remained with it, that of Congress shifted to the AAP.
The Congress is well aware of the fact. Congress party’s Shakur Basti candidate Satish Luthra, who is up against AAP’s Satyendar Jain, admitted that the party earlier failed to counter Kejriwal’s lies strongly but now the party leaders as well as its supporters who voted for AAP in the past two polls, can see through Kejriwal’s tactics. “Our supporters shifted to AAP believing in Kejriwal’s lies but now their illusion is over. They are returning to Congress in large numbers,” said Luthra, exuding confidence in his victory.
Arvind Kejriwal also appears to be accepting of the fact that if the Congress performs well, he may be standing on slippery ground. In a recent video, Kejriwal appealed to the Congress supporters to vote for AAP, claiming that voting for the grand old party will benefit the BJP. “I appeal to every Congress supporter, if you will vote for Congress, they will be benefitting the BJP in one way. If the BJP comes to power, they will stop all the welfare schemes being run by the AAP government,” said Kejriwal.
दिल्ली में सभी कांग्रेस समर्थकों से मेरी अपील- https://t.co/JuQLYqEzGi
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 30, 2025
Moreover, Arvind Kejriwal is contesting from the New Delhi seat, an assembly constituency once held by Shiela Dixit. This time, the Congress has fielded Dixit’s son Sandeep from the seat against Kejriwal, in a bid to win the prestige back.
Congress appears to be in a close fight with the AAP on over a dozen seats. The party has failed to open its account in the last two Delhi assembly elections – 2015 and 2020. The Congress wants to come out of obliteration in Delhi and Rahul Gandhi’s direct attack on Kejriwal will send a message to party leaders and workers that there may not be another alliance with the AAP. Thus, the Congress party’s loyal voters might return to the fold again, think party leaders.
