New Delhi | The BJP on Saturday returned to power in Delhi after more than 26 years to sweep away the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party with a two-thirds majority on the back of a hyper localised campaign and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'AAP-da'(disaster) blitzkrieg.
Adding to the ignominy of the AAP that was battling 10 years of anti-incumbency was the shocking defeat of former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal himself and other top leaders including his close aide and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Somnath Bharti and Saurabh Bhardwaj. Chief Minister Atishi, an academic and unlikely politician, weathered the storm to retain Kalkaji seat.
The BJP won 48 of the 70 seats at stake and the AAP was way behind with 22, according to the Election Commission website. The elections were largely seen as a bipolar contest between the AAP, which made a determined bid for a fourth term, and the BJP. While the AAP had 62 members in the outgoing house, the saffron party had just eight legislators.
The Congress, which had ruled for 15 consecutive years under Sheila Dikshit from 1998, came a cropper in the Assembly elections failing to get even a single seat for the third straight time. Its candidates suffered crushing defeats with a majority of them even losing their deposits
With Delhi now in its kitty after a battle of prestige given its symbolic importance as the country's capital, the BJP has extended its footprint, the victories helping it put behind some of the reverses of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections where it bagged 240 seats, short of the 272 majority mark.
Hailing the BJP's victory as "historic", Prime Minister Modi said people of Delhi have shown the door to 'AAP-da' and now a 'double-engine' government will ensure development at a double speed.
Modi, whose popularity among voters has been reinforced after the Delhi win, said Delhiites are celebrating BJP's victory and respite from 'AAP-da', the Hindi term meaning disaster that he used throughout the campaign to criticise the AAP's 10-year rule.
"People of Delhi today have enthusiasm and satisfaction. There is relief of liberating Delhi from 'AAP-da'. I thank all Delhiites for entrusting their faith in 'Modi ki guarantee'," Modi said in his address from BJP headquarters in the evening.
He launched a stinging attack on the AAP and the Congress, saying the country needs a serious political transformation and not politics of "dhoort-ta (deceit) and moorkhta (foolishness)".
He said people of Delhi have short-circuited the politics of short-cuts and asserted that the mandate has made it clear that there's no space for corruption and lies in politics.
Earlier in the day, Modi said that development and good governance have won.
“Development, good governance have won; we will leave no stone unturned for Delhi's all-round development,” Modi said on the splendid showing by the BJP that came just months after the saffron party's wins in Haryana as well as Maharashtra where it is part of the Mahayuti alliance.
Coming days after the Union budget which gave crucial tax concessions to the middle class, the BJP’s winning Lok Sabha streak in Delhi continues after it won all seven seats last year. But the premise this time was different.
Ground level issues such as water, drainage and garbage went up against volatile campaigns by both parties with voters grimly evaluating their quality of life in a polluted city.
The BJP also pushed ahead and made ‘sheesh mahal’ an oft recalled buzzword for the lavish chief minister’s residence following the renovations by Kejriwal and allegations of corruption in the Delhi excise policy. It clearly hit home.
While Modi and other party leaders repeated the need for a 'double engine' government, freebies offered by the AAP were countered by "Modi's guarantee," which appeared to find favour with voters.
The people of Delhi have dismantled the 'sheesh mahal' of lies, deceit and corruption and made the city "AAP-da free", said Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The AAP, which saw its leaders Kejriwal and Sisodia jailed in the excise policy case, countered the BJP campaign with vigour to say Yamuna waters were poisoned and that it was just not being allowed to govern because every move was being stymied by the lieutenant governor. It didn’t find the resonance it had hoped for.
“We fought a good election… We will play role of constructive opposition but will also be available to people of Delhi,” Kejriwal said as he conceded defeat in an election he had hoped would propel him as a national leader.
For the AAP national convenor, the face of the party launched on an anti-corruption plank in 2012, it was a tantalising seesaw ending in despair. He lost by 4,089 votes to BJP’s Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, son of former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma.
“Who will be chief minister will be decided by the central leadership,” said Verma, dubbed giant killer for defeating Kejriwal in New Delhi constituency.The BJP had not projected a CM face in the poll campaign.
As one more line was added to the Congress’ epitaph, the AAP struggled with its own existential crisis. A loss in Delhi, which it ruled for 10 successive years from 2015, signals an end to its national ambitions with now only Punjab in its pocket.
Chief Minister Atishi, who took over after Kejriwal stepped down last year when he was jailed, won by 3,521 votes against BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri.
“I have won my seat but this is not a time for celebration -- this is the time to fight. The battle against BJP's authoritarianism will continue,” she said.
It was a dramatic downslide for the AAP, which won 67 of the 70 seats in 2015 when it established its dominance by wiping out both the Congress and the BJP and 62 in 2020. The promise of mohalla clinics, model schools, free water and electricity seemed to have lost their sheen.
At BJP offices, there were drumbeats of victory and euphoria, party workers waving flags, holding lotus cutouts, dancing and smearing colours of celebration on each other. And Modi was the mantra.
The Congress headquarters wore a desolate look and workers at the AAP office shell-shocked, their leaders huddled in conference as they pondered the future.
The BJP ruled Delhi between 1993 and 1998 when the party had three chief ministers--Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj.
The BJP's vote share has steadily grown from over 32 per cent in 2015 to 38.5 per cent in 2020 against the AAP's over 54 per cent and 53.5 per cent respectively. This time the BJP's share jumped to 45.56 per cent, while the AAP's fell to 43.57 per cent.
And as political analysts debated the future of the opposition INDIA bloc and the benefits of joining hands to combat a resurgent BJP, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, an ally of the alliance, said in a caustic post on X, "Aur lado aapas mein!!! (Keep on fighting each other)."
In the run up to the Delhi elections, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) went all out to persuade voters elect an “effective and accountable” government for the progress of the national capital, contributing to the BJP’s thumping victory.
RSS volunteers carried out a silent voter awareness campaign and held “thousands of drawing room meetings” across Delhi to discuss “pressing” public issues like lack of required cleanliness, potable water supply, inadequate healthcare services, air pollution and cleaning of Yamuna river, according to sources.
Union ministers, chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, and NDA partners showered praise on Modi's leadership and Home Minister Shah's strategies for BJP's victory.
"BJP's landslide victory in Delhi is a victory of faith in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the policies of the BJP," Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said.
The AAP came to power in Delhi for the first time in 2013 on the back of the promise to sweep away corruption. But its minority government propped up by Congress lasted only 49 days after Kejriwal resigned following which Delhi came under a spell of President's rule.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses during celebrations at the BJP HQ after the party won the Delhi Assembly election, in New Delhi, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. Delhi is now 'AAP-da' free, Cong stealing allies' agenda: PM Modi
New Delhi | Projecting BJP's win in Delhi Assembly polls as no ordinary victory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that the people have got rid of "AAP-da" after a decade and promised the entire national capital region the country's best urban infrastructure.
Addressing joyous BJP workers at its headquarters here, Modi delivered a warning to the outgoing Aam Aadmi Party government saying that the CAG reports, which have reportedly highlighted its alleged financial irregularities, will be tabled in the first assembly session and all cases of corruption probed by the new dispensation.
"Those who have looted will have to pay back. This is also Modi's guarantee," he said, describing former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his party colleagues as "most corrupt", without taking any name.
People have short-circuited the politics of short-cuts, he said.
The BJP's "historic" win has ushered in a festival of victory and relief of getting rid of "AAP-da" (disaster) among the people of Delhi, he said.
"The country does not need the politics of 'dhoort-ta and moorkhta' (deceit and foolishness)," Modi said targeting AAP as well as the Congress.
He said the main opposition party is now "stealing" the agenda of its allies and eying their votes after its leaders' bid to identify with Hindu causes through temple-hopping cut no ice with voters.
Modi was apparently referring to the Congress taking up in a big way the issue of caste census and other planks traditionally associated with socialist and regional parties.
He said the people of Delhi have expressed their full trust in "Modi ki guarantee", and the BJP will repay their "debt" by developing the city with double speed.
He assured the city that the BJP government will make every effort to clean Yamuna. "It may be a long haul but Mother Yamuna will surely bless our efforts," he said.
Modi asserted that the new BJP government will fulfil all its promises, as it has done in every state where it is in power.
Reiterating his call for one lakh youths to join politics to stop those practising "dhoort-ta and moorkhta" from capturing national politics, he said, "The country truly needs serious political transformation. 'Viksit Bharat' needs new life force, new ideas and new energy in the 21st century."
Lashing out against the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, the prime minister took up his remarks of fighting the Indian State to claim that the opposition party is not doing politics of national interest but of "urban naxals" and that it is speaking the language of spreading anarchy.
The Aam Aadmi Party is advancing a similar agenda, he said.
"Success and failure happen. But if the youth does not join politics, then the country will be trapped in the politics of deceit and foolishness," he said.
Modi said the Congress made a failed bid for a few years after 2014 to "become Hindus" as its leaders visited temples and engaged in worship before realising that it is the BJP's territory where they could do little.
"Now the Congress has started stealing the agenda of its allies and snatching their votes," he said.
The main opposition party is raising issues in Uttar Pradesh that parties like the Samajwadi Party and the BSP considered their own and has turned to spreading the "poison of casteism" in Bihar to capture the the RJD's turf, he added.
It has done similar politics in other states like Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Jammu and Kashmir and that is why, he said, its allies from the INDIA bloc campaigned for AAP.
Asserting that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance is identified with development and good governance, he cited the BJP's repeated wins in a number of states and also praised allies such as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar for their work.
In a no-holds-barred attack on AAP, Modi said these 'AAP-da' people came into politics saying that they will change politics but they emerged as "kattar baimaan (most dishonest)".
"Now Delhi's double-engine government will ensure development at double speed. It is a historic win and not a usual victory as the people of Delhi have shown the door to 'AAP-da'. Delhi has become Aapda-mukt," Modi said.
Modi said people have again given a big message to the opposition party and it has secured a "double hat-trick" in the national capital by failing to open account in six elections.
"These people are giving themselves the gold medal in defeat. The truth is that the country is not willing to trust the Congress. I had said the last time that the Congress has become a parasitic party. It drowns and takes down its allies with it," he said.
Modi said that the Congress is not as it used to be post-independence as it is indulging in the "politics of urban naxals".
The BJP on Saturday trounced the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi and returned to power in the city after more than 26 years, extending its saffron imprint and dealing a devastating blow to the Kejriwal-led party.
Describing the national capital as a miniature India having people from every region and speaking every language, he said, "Lotus (BJP's poll symbol) has bloomed in every part of Delhi".
The prime minister also hailed the party's big win in the Milkipur assembly byelection in Uttar Pradesh, saying every community has voted for the BJP as the country is selecting politics of satisfaction over that of appeasement.
Faulting the AAP government for crumbling infrastructure in the city with overflowing sewers and garbage and accusing it of turning governance into a platform for propaganda and antics, he said it is the first time that the BJP is in power in Delhi and three neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.
"It has opened countless opportunities for development in the Delhi-NCR. A lot of work will be done to boost infrastructure and mobility. The national capital must get the country's best urban infrastructure," he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives to celebrations at the BJP HQ after the party won the Delhi Assembly election, in New Delhi, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. BJP's vote share up by 7%, AAP's down by 10%; Cong's rises by 2%
New Delhi | The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which was routed in the Delhi Assembly elections saw the erosion of nearly 10 percentage points in its vote share while the winner BJP not only saw a resurgence but also a significant increase in its vote share.
The BJP was out of power in the national capital for over 26 years.
A win on any seat remained elusive for the Congress even as it saw a marginal improvement in its vote share.
AAP secured a vote share of 43.57 per cent, down from 53.57 per cent in the 2020 polls. In the 2015 Assembly elections, it had secured 54.5 per cent of the votes.
In 2020 and 2015, the party won a massive mandate by securing 67 and 62 seats respectively. However, this time it was restricted to only 22 seats.
The BJP, which is returning to power, secured a vote share of 45.56 per cent and won 48 seats. The saffron party's vote share rose from 38.51 per cent in 2020 and 32.3 per cent in the 2015 elections.
The Congress, which was in power in Delhi for 15 years from 1998 to 2013, did not win any seat and secured a vote share of 6.34 per cent. The only consolation for the grand old party was the fact that it saw an improvement of 2.1 per cent in vote share over
The party polled 6.34 per cent of the valid votes as against 4.3 per cent in the 2020 assembly polls, denting its INDIA bloc partner AAP across segments.
