New Delhi – Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has secured a historic victory in Delhi, ending a 27-year-long wait to reclaim the state and delivering a resounding defeat to Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The BJP’s landslide win signals a clear rejection of AAP’s governance and a strong endorsement of Modi’s leadership and development agenda.
In the 70-seat Delhi Assembly, BJP secured 48 seats, while AAP’s tally collapsed from 63 in 2020 to just 22. The Congress party, once a dominant force in Delhi politics, failed to win a single seat for the third consecutive election. The results reflect growing voter discontent with AAP’s governance, corruption allegations, and political confrontations with the central government. As celebrations erupted at BJP offices, Modi took to X to declare, “Development wins, good governance triumphs.”
Kejriwal, once seen as a formidable challenger to mainstream parties, suffered a personal and political blow by losing his own New Delhi Assembly seat to BJP’s Parvesh Verma. His deputy, Manish Sisodia, currently in jail on corruption charges, also lost his seat. AAP, which once emerged from an anti-corruption movement, has now been reduced to a struggling opposition force, losing significant ground in its home turf. Analysts believe that Kejriwal’s combative stance against the Centre, combined with governance failures, alienated the middle-class voters who once formed AAP’s core support base.
AAP’s defeat has raised concerns about whether it will lose its national party status, which was granted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in 2023 after the party secured state recognition in Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat, and Goa. Losing Delhi alone does not automatically revoke its national status, but if AAP fails to maintain at least 6% vote share or state party recognition in four states, it risks being downgraded. With Punjab as its last major stronghold, AAP must now defend its relevance in Indian politics.
For over a decade, BJP dominated Delhi’s parliamentary elections but struggled to win the state government. This victory marks a turning point, demonstrating BJP’s ability to govern at both the central and state levels. Experts believe this win further strengthens Modi’s political dominance and aligns Delhi with the BJP’s “double-engine government” model, which promises synchronized governance between the Centre and state. The election results reaffirm the electorate’s preference for stability and development, reinforcing Modi’s vision for India’s political future.