Delhi Assembly Poll Results: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a thumping victory in the Delhi Assembly elections, ending Aam Aadmi Party’s 10-year rule in the national capital after over a month-long high-octane poll campaign.
With the blockbuster performance in the polls, the BJP is poised to form a government in Delhi after more than 26 years, with the latest EC trends showing the BJP leading in 48 out of Delhi’s 70 seats, while AAP is ahead in 22. In a tough battle for the CM’s chair in the national capital, there are several factors believed to have contributed to the saffron party’s success story. One such factor is the decision of the AAP and the Congress, allies in the opposition INDIA bloc, to contest separately on all seats, making it a three-cornered battle.
During the poll campaign, key leaders of both parties, including Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal, attacked each other over several issues, including Yamuna cleaning, corruption, and the liquor scam in the national capital.
As the poll results suggest, the campaign didn’t yield much for Congress, but it would be safe to say that it certainly dented the prospects of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party. The grand old party, which failed to open its account in the national capital for the third successive election—2015, 2020, 2025—secured a vote share of 6.39 percent causing significant damage to the AAP.
In as many as 14 constituencies, the number of votes that the grand old party got was higher than the margin of the BJP’s victory. The impact of Congress contesting all seats was so severe that it led to the defeat of AAP’s top leadership—Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Saurabh Bharadwaj, and Somnath Bharti in their respective seats—as the Congress secured higher votes than the margin of AAP’s defeat against the BJP.
In New Delhi, the difference between the saffron party’s Parvesh Sahib Singh, who received 30,088 votes, and Kejriwal, who got 25,999 votes, was 4,089 votes. Congress’s Sandeep Dikshit managed to garner 4568 votes. Speaking about Jungpura, another VIP seat in the national capital, BJP’s Tarvinder Singh Marwah got 38,859 votes while Manish Sisodia secured 38,184 votes, losing by 675 votes. Congress’s Farhad Suri got 7350 votes.
AAP’s Saurabh Bharadwaj conceded defeat at the hands of the saffron party’s Shikha Roy by 3,188 votes in Greater Kailash, whereas the grand old party’s Garvit Singhvi got 6711 votes in this constituency. In Malviya Nagar, AAP’s Somnath Bharti lost to BJP’s Satish Upadhyay by 2,131 votes while the Congress’s Jitender Kochar bagged 6,770 votes.
Besides the key seats with top guns, the Congress candidates got higher votes than the number of votes by which the AAP candidates lost in eight more constituencies. These include Badli, Chhatarpur, Madipur, Nangloi Jat, Rajende Nagar, Sangam Vihar, Timarpur, and Trilokpuri. In Badli, AAP’s Ajesh Yadav conceded defeat by 10,461 votes while the grand old party’s Devender Yadav received 31,130 votes.
In Chhatarpur, AAP’s Brahm Singh Tanwar lost to the BJP’s Kartar Singh Tanwar by 6,239 votes, whereas the Congress’s Rajender Singh Tanwar got 6,601 votes. In Madipur, Kailash Gangwal of the BJP defeated Rakhi Birla of the AAP by 10899 votes. The Congress secured 17,958 votes.
In Nangloi Jat, BJP’s Manoj Kumar Shokeen defeated AAP’s Raghuvinder Shokeen by 26,251 votes. Congress’s Rohit Choudhary got 32028 votes. In Rajender Nagar, Umang Bajaj of the BJP defeated Durgesh Pathak of AAP by 1231 votes. The Congress’s Vineet Yadav got 4,015 votes.
In Sangam Vihar, the BJP’s Chandan Kumar Choudhary defeated AAP’s Dinesh Mohaniya by 344 votes. The Congress’s Harsh Choudhary got 15,863 votes. In Timarpur, the BJP’s Surya Prakash Khatri defeated AAP’s Surinder Pal Singh Bittoo by 969 votes. The Congress’s Lokendra Kalyan Singh got 7,827 votes.
In Trilokpuri, BJP’s Ravi Kant defeated AAP’s Anjana Parcha by 392 votes. The Congress’s Amardeep got 6,147 votes. In two constituencies, the Congress candidates stood second. In Karawal Nagar, the Congress came second after Kapil Mishra of the saffron party, who registered victory. In Kasturba Nagar, the Congress’s Abhishek Dutt stood second after the BJP’s Neeraj Basoya, who won by 11048 votes. AAP came third with 18,617 votes.
Differences In INDIA Bloc Paved Way For BJP’s Victory?
With the BJP getting ready to form the government in Delhi after more than 26 years, the CPI(M) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) on Saturday expressed strong disappointment and said the differences in the INDIA block paved way for the saffron party’s good show in the national capital. Both the CPI(M) and the IUML are part of the INDI Alliance. The Marxist party vehemently attacked the Congress and accused them of facilitating the victory of the BJP in Delhi.
The IUML, however, opted not to directly criticise the grand-old party, but made it clear that if the partners of the INDI Alliance fought the election unitedly, they could have successfully resisted the saffron party from coming into power.
When his reaction was sought, senior CPI(M) leader and the convenor of the ruling LDF, T P Ramakrishnan alleged that the Congress didn’t support well for the effective functioning of the INDIA block. “There was no support from the side of the Congress. If the party had taken the initiative, the alliance could have functioned more effectively. But, the grand old party didn’t fulfill their responsibility,” he told reporters.
While answering a question, he said the presence of the Left is weak in a state like Delhi and if anyone who could do something there it was the Congress. Accusing the Congress, he said the party did not adopt a favourable stand in taking the INDI Alliance together and united. “They adopted a stand facilitating the BJP to come to power in New Delhi,” Ramakrishnan alleged. While reacting to the BJP’s victory in the Delhi polls, veteran IUML leader P K Kunhalikutty said it would not have happened if the partners in the INDI Alliance stood united.
He said that the BJP has no strong vote base to come to power in any Indian state and it used to survive by making use of the differences among secular parties. The difference in the INDIA block, a coalition of secular parties, helped the saffron party in the Delhi polls also, he said.
If everyone in the alliance stood together, the result would have been different, Kunhalikutty said. When asked about whether it was the Congress which was the reason for the lack of unity in the opposition alliance, the IUML veteran, however, said there was no point in blaming a single party for the poll outcome.
“Everyone in the alliance should discuss this matter and evaluate the poll results,” he said, adding that immediate steps should be taken not to repeat such things in future. The circumstances in each state is different and the INDIA block should be able to overcome such differences to protect the Constitution of the country, Kunhalikutty added.
(With agency Inputs)
