New Delhi, 8 February 2025: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has crossed the halfway mark in the Delhi Assembly elections and is set to return to power in the capital after 27 years. According to the latest Election Commission (EC) trends, the saffron party has won 39 of the 70 seats, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has secured 17.
Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia conceded defeat in Jangpura to BJP’s Tarvinder Singh Marwah, while BJP’s Parvesh Verma unseated AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal from the high-profile New Delhi constituency.
The Congress continues its electoral decline in Delhi, failing to secure a seat for the third consecutive assembly election.
Despite setbacks, AAP managed to hold onto several seats. Virender Singh Kadian won Delhi Cantt by 2,029 votes, Kuldeep Kumar secured Kondli with a margin of 6,293, and Sahi Ram retained Tughlakabad by 14,711 votes. Mukesh Ahlawat won from Sultanpur Majra by 17,126 votes, Jarnail Singh from Tilak Nagar by 11,656 votes, and Imran Hussain from Ballimaran by 29,823 votes.
The BJP, meanwhile, secured key victories. Rekha Gupta won Shalimar Bagh by 29,595 votes, while Manjinder Singh Sirsa emerged victorious in Rajouri Garden by 18,190 votes. Tilak Ram Gupta claimed the Tri Nagar seat with a margin of 15,896 votes, Umang Bajaj won Rajinder Nagar by 1,231 votes, and Chandan Kumar Choudhary edged out his rival in Sangam Vihar by 344 votes.
Before the polls, AAP had sarcastically projected BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri as the saffron party’s chief ministerial face. However, the BJP maintained that no decision had been made. Bidhuri, contesting from Kalkaji, lost to Chief Minister Atishi.
With the BJP securing a clear mandate, five names are emerging as potential contenders for the chief minister’s post.
