The BJP is set to return to power in Delhi after 27 years, delivering a crushing defeat to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the assembly elections. While the saffron party dominated the results, three AAP ministers—Gopal Rai, Mukesh Ahlawat, and Imran Hussain—managed to retain their seats, offering a rare respite for the party. Rai, contesting from Babarpur, won by a margin of 18,994 votes, while Ahlawat secured victory in Sultanpur Majra by 17,126 votes. Hussain registered the biggest win among them, defeating his opponent in Ballimaran by 29,823 votes.
Apart from these ministers, Chief Minister and senior AAP leader Atishi also managed to win from Kalkaji, ensuring her continued presence in the assembly. However, the overall results painted a bleak picture for the party, with several prominent AAP leaders suffering shocking defeats.
Arvind Kejriwal, who led AAP for a decade in Delhi, lost to BJP’s Parvesh Verma, marking the most significant setback for the party. Kejriwal later conceded defeat, congratulating the BJP and stating that AAP would continue to serve the people as a constructive opposition. Another major blow came in Greater Kailash, where senior AAP leader and minister Saurabh Bharadwaj lost to BJP’s Shikha Roy by a margin of 3,188 votes.
The defeat was further compounded by the loss of former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in Jangpura, where BJP’s Tarvinder Singh Marwah emerged victorious. In Nangloi Jat, Raghuvinder Shokeen, who had replaced Kailash Gahlot in the cabinet, was also defeated by BJP’s Manoj Kumar Shokeen with a massive margin of 26,251 votes.
The latest trends from the Election Commission indicate that the BJP is leading in 48 out of 70 assembly seats, while AAP is ahead in only 22. The Congress, once a dominant force in Delhi politics, has failed to win a single seat for the third consecutive election, further cementing its decline in the national capital. As celebrations erupted at the BJP headquarters, the party’s return to power marks a dramatic shift in Delhi’s political landscape after a decade of AAP’s rule.
