After a 27-year exile, the BJP is on course for a dramatic comeback in Delhi, ‘sweeping’ the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) out of power after a decade-long reign. Several rounds of vote-count later, the BJP was leading in 45 of the 70 seats up for grabs—a stunning turnaround from its single-digit tally in the 2020 Assembly elections.
Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP, which dominated the last two elections with near-sweep victories, was trailing with 25 seats, and the gap was widening. The Congress, failing to secure a single lead, appeared set to draw a blank for the third time in a row.
In a major setback for AAP, several bigwigs are facing tough contests. Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal is locked in a neck-and-neck race in New Delhi against BJP’s Parvesh Verma. Atishi, who took over as Chief Minister after Kejriwal’s arrest, is trailing BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri in Kalkaji.
Meanwhile, Kejriwal’s former deputy Manish Sisodia held a narrow lead in Jangpura. Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, after initially leading, fell behind his BJP rival in the Greater Kailash constituency.
Delhi Assembly election result: 10 Points
- The Delhi Assembly elections, held on February 5, witnessed a voter turnout of 60.54 per cent, a decline of about 2.5 percentage points compared to 2020. According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), over 50.42 lakh male voters and 44.08 lakh female voters cast their ballots.
- Mustafabad recorded the highest voter turnout at 69.01 per cent, with more than 2.9 lakh male and 1.08 lakh female voters participating. Mehrauli saw the lowest turnout at 53.02 per cent, with over 61,000 male and 53,578 female voters.
- In the wake of the polling, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal alleged lack of transparency in publishing voting data. In response, the Delhi Chief Election Officer’s office on Friday released voter turnout data on the ECI Voter Turnout App. Meanwhile, AAP launched its own website for voters to access the turnout figures.
- Key battleground constituencies include New Delhi, where Arvind Kejriwal is facing off against BJP’s Parvesh Verma and Congress’s Sandeep Dikshit. In Kalkaji, Chief Minister Atishi faces a tough battle against BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri and Congress’s Alka Lamba. Former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is up against BJP’s Tarvinder Singh Marwah and Congress’s Farhad Suri in Jangpura.
- Exit polls suggest a BJP victory is likely in Delhi after nearly three decades, in what would be a massive setback for AAP, which has enjoyed back-to-back near-sweeps in the last two elections. However, exit polls can get it wrong, and projections should be taken with a grain of salt.
- An average of five exit polls gives the BJP 39 seats, comfortably past the 36-seat majority mark. AAP is projected to win 30 seats, a sharp decline from 62 in 2020. The Congress, which failed to win any seats in the last two elections, is predicted to secure 1-2 seats.
- A few pollsters, such as Mind Brink and WeePreside, suggested the AAP could still retain power, predicting between 44 to 52 seats for the party. In contrast, Matrize forecast a hung Assembly, with the BJP potentially winning 35 to 40 seats and the AAP securing 32 to 37 seats.
- AAP, despite battling anti-incumbency and graft allegations, campaigned on its governance record and welfare schemes. The BJP, eager to reclaim Delhi, focused on accusations of misgovernance and corruption against AAP, while the Congress struggled to regain relevance.
- During the campaign’s final stretch, political tensions boiled over when AAP accused the BJP-led Haryana government of “poisoning Yamuna water,” leading to sharp exchanges between the two parties.
- AAP first rose to power in 2013 in a hung assembly, but then Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal resigned after 49 days over the Jan Lokpal Bill. In 2015 and 2020, the party staged near-sweep victories, while BJP remained in single digits and Congress drew a blank.
