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Informist, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – With an impressive victory, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday came back to power in Delhi after 27 years. The BJP won 48 out of 70 seats in the high-stakes Delhi Assembly election, while the incumbent Aam Aadmi Party won 22 seats. The saffron party registered a massive win in contrast to the 2015 and 2020 polls when it had won three and eight seats, respectively. 

 

The last time the BJP formed a government in Delhi was in 1993. The saffron party lost subsequent elections in 1998 to the Congress party. Though it emerged the largest party in the 2013 assembly polls with 32 seats, it sat on the Opposition benches as the Congress party extended support to the AAP to form the government. 

 

In the 2025 polls, the BJP's vote share also increased by seven percentage points to 45.56% from 38.51% in 2020. However, it declined from the 56.86% votes the saffron party had got in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the BJP's victory as "historic." Addressing party workers at the BJP's headquarters here after the victory, he said the youth born in the 21st century will now see the BJP's good governance in Delhi. He said the victory has bestowed a new responsibility on the party. "Delhi has been freed from the 'AAP-da'. The mandate of Delhi is clean. Today, development vision and trust have won in Delhi. The results show how much trust the country has in BJP's double-engine government," Modi said.

 

He said the mandate has also given a message that shortcuts and lies have no place in politics. Modi also attacked the Congress party, saying that the country's oldest party is not able to get even one seat in Delhi.

 

The election was a contest of prestige for the BJP, considering Delhi's symbolic significance as the nation's capital. Despite winning all seven Lok Sabha seats since 2014, the party failed to make a breakthrough in the assembly polls in the previous elections.

 

However, the party's consistent performance in Lok Sabha elections indicated a latent voter base which the saffron party successfully mobilised in the current elections. The existing support base provided a strong foundation for the BJP's aggressive campaign in the national capital.

 

The tax exemption announced in the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Feb. 1 made a significant impact on Delhi voters ahead of elections. The Budget proposed zero tax on income up to INR 1.2 million, which attracted middle class voters towards the BJP. The middle class comprises around 66% of Delhi's population, as per reports.

 

The BJP also announced several freebies, such as monthly aid of INR 2,500 to women, INR 21,000 for every pregnant woman, one-time financial aid of INR 15,000 to the youth of Delhi who aspire to participate in competitive examinations. The party further announced life insurance of INR 1 million and accidental insurance of INR 500,000 for auto and taxi drivers, and domestic workers. It also promised a monthly pension of INR 2,500 for senior citizens. Apart from this, the party assured the voters that it would continue the AAP government's free electricity and free water programmes.

 

The saffron party also exploited the anti-incumbency against the AAP government. The BJP strategically carried out its campaign and cornered the AAP on corruption allegations against Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and other top leaders and huge expenditure made on renovation of the chief minister's house in Delhi. The BJP's campaign focussed on the liquor policy scam against the AAP government. An alleged expenditure of over INR 330 million for renovation of chief minister's residence became a major issue in the Delhi polls. The BJP ran an aggressive campaign to dent Kejriwal's common-man image and took a jibe at his residence, which the party termed as 'Sheesh Mahal'.

 

It also targeted the AAP for its failure to combat the rising air pollution in the city and clean the Yamuna river.

 

The infighting in the opposition bloc--the AAP and the Congress party--also benefitted the BJP. In at least 13 seats, the Congress party directly dented AAP's candidates with the former's candidates getting more votes than the gap between the AAP and the BJP. On one seat, the Congress party finished second and the margin was mush less than the votes polled to the AAP candidate, who finished third. Additionally, a scathing campaign against Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia by senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also damaged the AAP.

 

The polling for 70 Assembly seats across Delhi was held in a single phase on Wednesday and the voter turnout was recorded at 60.54%. As many as 699 candidates were in the fray in the national capital. The Election Commission of India set up 13,766 polling stations across the city for the electoral exercise.  End

 

Reported by Kuldeep Singh

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

 

 

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