The BJP staged a thumping comeback in Delhi after more than 26 years as it won 48 of the 70 seats in the Assembly polls on Saturday, fEB 8. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) secured victories from 22 seats and the Congress drew a blank for a third straight time.
Before the Delhi Assembly came into existence in 1993, the Capital had a Metropolitan Council that had the power to make recommendations, but not legislate, from 1966 onwards.
Almost six decades after the Delhi Metropolitan Council, which evolved into the Delhi Legislative Assembly over time, witnessed its precursor — the Bharatiya Jana Sangh — come to power in the country on its own for the first time, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will enter the House with a majority government for the second time after a gap of almost 27 years.
AAP candidate from Matia Mahal Aaley Mohammad Iqbal registered the highest victory margin of 42,724 votes in the polls, defeating BJP’s Deepti Indora, according to the Election Commission’s (EC) data.
BJP’s Chandan Kumar Choudhary won the Sangam Vihar seat by the lowest margin of 344 votes. The BJP’s vote share was 45.56%, while the AAP secured 43.57% votes and the Congress’s poll percentage was 6.34.
BJP has won five seats in North-East Delhi which saw violent riots in 2020
BJP’s Parvesh Verma emerged as a giant-slayer with his victory against AAP supremo and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a fierce contest from the New Delhi seat by a margin of 4,089 votes.
Amid the BJP’s sweeping victory, Chief Minister Atishi and three Ministers in the outgoing AAP government – Gopal Rai, Mukesh Ahlawat and Imran Hussain – managed to secure wins. CM Atishi has won from the Kalkaji seat defeating BJP rival Ramesh Bidhuri by 3,521 votes at the end of the twelfth rounds of counting.
The Congress was decimated in the Delhi elections, failing to open its account in the 70-member assembly for a third consecutive time and its key candidates suffering crushing defeats. The Congress also asserted that it would form a government in the national capital in 2030.
Results of the Delhi Assembly election are not a vindication of Prime Minister’s Narendra Modi’s policies but a referendum on Arvind Kejriwal and AAP, the Congress said on Saturday (February 8, 2025) as it vowed to bounce back from another whitewash.
The voting for the Delhi Assembly Elections 2025 concluded on February 5 with an overall voter turnout of 60.39%. The highest voter turnout was in Mustafabad (69%). Lowest was in Karol Bagh (47.40%).
After the tenure of the interim council from 1966 to 1967 under the chairmanship of Jag Parvesh Chandra, the first Metropolitan Council from 1967 to 1972 saw a majority government of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, led by chairman Lal Krishna Advani, who went on to become a top leader of the BJP and Deputy Prime Minister. This was followed by the Jana Sangh becoming a part of governments in several other Indian states.
“The Delhi Metropolitan Council, which gave the Jana Sangh the opportunity to form its first government with a poorn bahumat (full majority), was dissolved in the year 1990. The BJP gave the Delhi Legislative Assembly its first Chief Minister in Madan Lal Khurana in the year 1993, followed by Sahib Singh Verma and then its first woman CM, Sushma Swaraj,” said South Delhi BJP MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, who was part of the first Legislative Assembly.
