NEW DELHI:  The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) scripted a historic comeback in the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections after a long gap of 27 years, winning 48 out of 70 seats that went to the polls, marking the first time in 27 years that it has come to power in Delhi, ending the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) decade-long rule.

On the other hand, AAP, which was able to come to power a decade ago by dislodging the Congress government, faced a major setback with its key leaders, including party supremo and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, losing his seat, along with other prominent leaders like former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, and Satyendar Jain.

Kejriwal, who was an IAS officer before turning politician, rose to fame through Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement and later fought elections by forming the AAP was defeated by BJP leader Parvesh Verma in the New Delhi constituency by a margin of around 4000 votes.  Sisodia had to concede defeat from the Jangpura constituency, to BJP's Tarvinder Singh Marwah who secured the win, with 38,859 votes, while Sisodia secured 38,184 votes.

Delhi BJP president, Virendra Sachdeva said on the massive victory,“The result will be in favour of the double engine government,” referencing the party’s strategy of aligning both central and state governance under BJP leadership.

Parvesh Verma, the son of Sahib Singh Verma, former Chief Minister of Delhi, is most likely to be announced as the Chief Minister as he led the BJP campaign. However, the party is also said to be evaluating other leaders like Vijender Gupta and Satish Upadhyay.

Voters who had previously supported AAP shifted their allegiance to BJP due to issues like poor roads, traffic congestion, and pollution. Cases of corruption against prominent AAP leaders including Kejriwal and Sisodia when they were serving as the CM and Dy CM under charges of the liquor scam, Jain under the charges of money laundering and the lavish spending on the CM house dubbed by both the BJP and the Congress as ‘Sheesh Mahal’ played an important narrative against the party.

The BJP’s victory is seen as a significant political shift, with the party’s campaign focusing on governance and infrastructure. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself assured the people of Delhi that with BJP ruling in both the state and the Centre, the development work for Delhi that was stalled for several years under AAP would be expedited.