The BJP is poised to form the government in Delhi after 27 years, drubbing the Aam Aadmi Party that had swept the last two Assembly elections with its anti-corruption rhetoric, populism and soft Hindutva.

The BJP has won 48 seats in a House of 70, reducing the AAP to 22 and trouncing many of its senior leaders including national convener and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. In 2020, the BJP had won 8 seats and the AAP 62.

The Congress has drawn a blank for a third straight time.

The difference in the vote shares of the BJP and the AAP is only around two percentage points, but the AAP’s votes were largely concentrated in seats with large working-class and Muslim populations.

Kejriwal lost his New Delhi seat, which he had represented since 2013, to the BJP’s Parvesh Sahib Singh, son of former chief minister Sahib Singh Verma.

“Now that the people have given their verdict, we will not only play the role of a constructive Opposition but also continue serving society,” a crestfallen Kejriwal said in a webcast in the afternoon.

Kejriwal said: “We will stand with the people in their joys and sorrows, personally assisting anyone in need. We did not enter politics for power; we see politics as a medium to serve the people and to stand by them in times of need. We will continue this work and in the future, as well, we will remain committed to serving the people.”

The AAP has accused the BJP of electoral malpractices. The campaign was one of the most aggressive in recent memory, marked by daily fisticuffs between the two parties, with the authorities mostly watching from the backseat.

The AAP also engaged in a scrutiny of the electoral rolls like it had never before, and claimed to have prevented attempts by the BJP to delete the names of genuine voters.

However, the sustained campaign the BJP conducted against alleged corruption in the Delhi government appears to have eroded the AAP’s sheen as an anti-corruption crusader.

On the streets and on social media, the AAP was lampooned for both the liquor policy scandal — which landed Kejriwal and several other AAP leaders in jail — and the extravagant renovation of Kejriwal’s government bungalow, mockingly called “Sheeshmahal”.

Changes to the legal framework governing Delhi had given the Centre the upper hand in governance, and with Kejriwal and his ministers in and out of jail, lieutenant governor V.K. Saxena was left calling the shots.

The AAP responded with a slew of new welfare promises before the polls — a dole for women and insurance for domestic workers, auto and taxi drivers, and the elderly. The BJP matched these and also wooed the middle class by raising the income limit for taxation in the Union budget.

Kejriwal had resigned as chief minister after coming out of jail on bail in September, with Atishi taking over the top post. This, however, failed to gain him any sympathy since he continued to make policy announcements.

BJP supporters celebrate the party's decisive lead in the Delhi Assembly polls as counting of votes is underway, outside the Delhi BJP office in New Delhi, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025.

Atishi was one of the few senior AAP leaders to retain their seats: she won from Kalkaji defeating BJP strongman Ramesh Bidhuri.

The BJP has increased its vote share from 38.5 per cent to 45.6 per cent, while the AAP’s share has shrunk from 53.6 per cent to 43.6 per cent.

The Congress has secured the second position in a single seat. It has won 6.3 per cent of the votes, a rise of a little over two percentage points since 2020.

Congress communications head Jairam Ramesh tweeted: “This shows that, rather than being vindication of the policies of the PM, this vote is a rejection of Arvind Kejriwal’s politics of deceit, deception, and vastly exaggerated claims of achievement.”

He added: “The Congress was expecting to do better. It has, however, increased its vote share…. There will be a Congress Govt once again in Delhi in 2030.”

The Congress had been the first to allege corruption in the then AAP government’s now-shelved liquor policy. However, the party joined hands with the AAP for the Lok Sabha polls and protested against Kejriwal’s arrest.

But the alliance failed to break the BJP’s stranglehold over Delhi’s Lok Sabha seats, and the Congress and the AAP fought the Assembly polls separately, targeting each other bitterly in campaign speeches.

The BJP is yet to name its chief minister. The party has in its ranks giant-killers like Parvesh Sahib Singh and motor-mouths like Kapil Mishra.

Despite the AAP having echoed the BJP’s communal rhetoric against the largely Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar, BJP campaigners like Mishra had continued to remind Hindu voters of the 2020 riots that their party has steadfastly blamed on anti-CAA activists and the AAP.

BJP leaders attributed the victory to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “guarantees” to Delhi, and promised to continue the electricity and water subsidies that Kejriwal had built his governance model on.

The BJP’s challenge is to build upon the healthcare facilities and improved government schools that captivated Delhi’s working class for a decade and kept the AAP’s vote share over 40 per cent even amid this debacle.