Delhi's twist: BJP wins, but Congress makes AAP pay price by doing THIS

New Delhi: The 2025 Delhi Assembly elections delivered a crushing blow to the AAP, with several prominent leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal, losing their seats, and the BJP securing a majority. A notable factor in AAP's defeat was the Congress party, whose vote share, although not enough to win any seats, exceeded the BJP's winning margin in at least 13 constituencies.

Congress as Spoiler: AAP's Downfall?

Several AAP stalwarts, including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Somnath Bharti, and Durgesh Pathak, lost their seats by margins smaller than the votes secured by Congress candidates in those constituencies. This suggests that the Congress, despite failing to win any seats, played a spoiler role by splitting the anti-BJP vote.

Key AAP Leaders Fall

Arvind Kejriwal, who had won the New Delhi seat three times since 2013, was defeated by the BJP's Parvesh Verma. Manish Sisodia lost in Jangpura, Saurabh Bharadwaj in Greater Kailash, Somnath Bharti in Malviya Nagar, and Durgesh Pathak in Rajinder Nagar, all with the Congress gaining more votes than the BJP's winning margin. Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla also lost in Madipur despite the Congress vote share exceeding the winning margin.

Narrow Victories for BJP

The BJP secured some victories by very slim margins, such as in Sangam Vihar, where the BJP won by only 344 votes. In Jangpura, Tarvinder Singh Marwah of BJP defeated Manish Sisodia of AAP by just 675 votes. The BJP's vote share in the 2025 Delhi assembly election was 45.76 percent, while AAP's share was 43.55 percent, and Congress's share was 6.36 percent. In 2020, AAP had won 62 seats with a 53.57 percent vote share, indicating a significant loss in both vote share and seats. The BJP's vote share in 2020 was 38.51 percent.

Impact on INDIA Bloc

The election results are set to exacerbate concerns within the INDIA bloc, as many of its members had supported an alliance between the AAP and Congress. While the Congress may have spoiled AAP's chances in at least 13 seats, it failed to win a single seat for the third consecutive time. Despite the division of Muslim votes, the AAP managed to win six out of the seven seats with a substantial Muslim population