Delhi selection results 2025: Why AAP lost | 10 Key factors behind BJP’s victory | Delhi News

BJP Saturday withdrew a major political rebellion by effortless Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from Delhi after over 10 years. According to the latest election commission data, BJP may win about 47 seats and the Kejriwal-led party, winning about 23 seats in the 70-seat.
What went wrong for the AAM AADMI party with BJP set to regain control of Delhi after 27 years?

Here are 10 reasons for AAP’s defeat:

Ten years of incumbency

After controlling Delhi for a decade, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) faced a significant anti-inciscency.

While AAP achieved impressive results in health and education during its first two terms of parliament, and kept voters satisfied with power and water supplements, unfulfilled promises, such as improved air quality, became major voting questions.
AAP’s claim that the BJP government in the center created roadblocks in its function began to be increasingly seen by voters as excuses, especially after ten years in power.
BJP’s “Double Motor” promise that suggests trouble -free governance between the central and state level appealed to voters based on AAP’s constant conflicts with the center. Furthermore, internal disorder in AAP with senior leaders facing prison time, to the challenges of Incumency.

Liquor Scam, Sheesh Mahal Dent Kejriwals ‘Imandaar’ Image

The image of Arvind Kejriwal as an anti-corruption crusader suffered a setback due to several factors, especially the controversy around the now scrapped liquor policy.
BJP accused the AAP government of transforming Delhi into a “City of Drunkards” with the new policy and receiving crores in setback from those who opened the liver.
Probes from key agencies led to the arrest of top AAP leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh. These arrests forced Sisodia to resign as Deputy Chief Minister and kept AAP in “Fire Fighting Mode” and distracted from fulfilling his promises from the 2020 vote.
In addition, the “Sheesh Mahal” Controvers, referring to the renovated residence of the minister of chief, bulged further Kejriwal’s image. BJP further highlighted a controller and accountant in India (CAG) report stating that the renovation costs had risen from an initial estimate of RS 7.91 crore to RS 33.66 crore upon completion.
AAP has been synonymous with Arvind Kejriwal since its inception. Kejriwal, originally seen as an agent for change with his effortless shirt and non-nonsens behavior, resonated with the ordinary person.
However, the anti-corruption picture of Kejriwal and his party suffered irreparable damage, especially after the AAP leader’s arrest in March 2024 the corruption Claims and his subsequent resignation as cm.
While he was later awarded bail, the management passed to Atishi and the circumstances of Kejriwal’s arrest party’s image and cohesion.

No binding, Congress made strategic campaign

The absence of an alliance with the Congress Party and the Congress strategic campaign probably contributed to AAP’s loss.
In previous elections, AAP had significantly reduced Congress presence in the Delhi assembly.
Attempts to convince congressional workers to cooperate with AAP volunteers reportedly led to an “existential crisis” among them.
Congress decided to campaign aggressively against AAP and felt “anger building up against AAP”. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attacked AAP in the last days of the Delhi campaign.
Congress also claimed that AAP did not want an alliance where Kejriwal announced all 70 candidates early.
The emergence of AAP in Delhi has been congruent with the decline of congress. In 2013, AAP won 28 seats with a 29.49% voting share, while Congress fell to 8 seats from 43 in 2008. In 2015, Congress suffered a 15% decrease in its vote, while AAP saw its support base rise by about 15%.

Flooding of freebies but no next development level

While AAP’s welfare schemes, such as free electricity and bus travel for women, originally received support, a lack of focus on infrastructure development and maintenance became a significant problem.
The poor state of roads and sewers over Delhi angry voters.
Flooding drains, ugly roads and irregular waste collection contributed to the party’s unpopularity.
AAP’s control of the municipal company in Delhi (MCD) meant that it could not divert blame for these issues at BJP. Voters in middle and upper middle-class areas were particularly affected by the worsening infrastructure.
AAP’s origin traces back to Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement and placed the party as an alternative to Congress in 2013.
While AAP secured mandates in 2015 and 2020, their repeated promises and “freebies” appear to have lost their appeal.
The promise of piped water connections for everyone in 2015 remains unfulfilled, just as the promise of full state of Delhi and the “Rozgar budget” aimed at creating 20 Lakh jobs.
Kejriwal himself admitted that he had not fulfilled three promises: cleaning yamuna, delivered clean drinking water and upgrading Delhi’s roads. This recognition gave BJP an opportunity to attack AAP, with AMIT Shah that spotted Kejriwal’s promise to clean Yamuna.

BJP focuses on Kejriwal, Hindutva takes the back seat back

BJP’s campaign strategy focused primarily on targeting Arvind Kejriwal and his government rather than emphasizing Hindutva, as it has often done during campaing in other state elections as well as previous Delhi vote.
This approach is revered probably with a wider segment of the population, including those who may not have been inclined to support a religiously charged campaign. By focusing on questions such as corruption and governance, BJP effectively understood AAP’s credibility and appealed to a wider range of voters.
BJP also focused on hyper -room problems such as air pollution, traffic and public security and dealt with local resident welfare associations. They also alien central government schemes.
BJP also targeted specific demographies, including Purvanchalis and slum residents, and used an aggressive digital campaign with AI-enhanced content and MEMES aimed at AAP.

BJP’s latent poll

BJP’s consistent performance in the Lok Sabha vote in Delhi indicated a latent voter base that the party successfully mobilized this time for the assembly elections.
Despite AAP’s strong performance in the assembly elections, BJP had consistently swept Lok Sabha election in National Capital and won all seven seats.

This already existing support base provided a foundation for BJP’s campaign and probably contributed to their victory.
BJP also marked strategic Parvesh Verma, a strong jat leader, in the New Delhi election circle, signaling their intention of winning the jat community’s confidence back, which had previously favored AAP at the election in Delhi.

Rahul toasted Kejriwal as a refund for Haryana

During the election in the Delhi assembly, congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched strong criticism against Arvind Kejriwal, which may have been a refund for events in Haryana. Gandhi’s attacks covered a number of questions, including alleged corruption, unfulfilled promises and passivity on key issues.
Like BJP, Gandhi attacked Kejriwal over the alleged spirits and accused him of living in a “Sheesh Mahal” while participating in corrupt practice.
Gandhi said Kejriwal gave false promises, “similar to Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” especially with regard to cleaning the Yamuna River. He also challenged Kejriwal to drink Delhi’s wiring water, which suggested it was still contaminated despite promises to clean it.

McD with AAP: No excuses

Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) victory in the municipal company in Delhi (MCD) in 2022 turned out to be a double-edged sword, which ultimately harms the party instead of helping it. AAP had promised a cleaner city with world -class roads, but it came short on both accounts. The MCD house was in Limbo, and the standing committee that controls all financial powers was never formed. AAP repeatedly accused the center of creating obstacles through the lieutenant governor and stopping projects.
This time, voters held AAP responsible for the deteriorating citizen infrastructure over Delhi.
AAP’s performance in MCD was a shutdown for the people of Delhi. The party could not tackle critical problems, such as clearing waste, repairing roads and cleaning clogged sewers. Erratic water supply and flooding sewers that were never repaired because RS 4,000 crore for the Delhi Jal board was not released further damaged.
Senior party leaders said the MCD feature was collapsed under AAP and no work was done, leading to frustration among the councils.

Steady emigration of AAP leaders

The stable departure of senior leaders from AAP over time could also have weakened the party’s organizational structure and public image.
The end of prominent figures such as Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav, Mayan’s Gandhi and Kumar Vishwas, who had dared to disagree with Arvind Kejriwal and repeatedly accused Kejriwal of having an “autocratic” leadership style.
The resignation of senior leaders like Kailash Gahlot, who cited the party’s focus on the political agenda of fulfilling promises along with internal challenges, signaled internal disagreement.
BJP had called Gahlot’s resignation a “brave trait”.

AAP goes negatively

Negative campaign from AAM AADMI Party (AAP) centered on issues such as Yamuna River Pollution, Delhi Police and the Election Commission (EC) may have affected the public perception of the AAP government.
In the up to the electoral measurements, Kejriwal accused the BJP-led Haryana government for poisoning of the Yamuna River that supplies drinking water to Delhi. He claimed that the Haryana government deliberately sent contaminated waters to Delhi to create an artificial water button and blame AAP.
AAP also repeatedly smooths allegations of voter fraud and irregularities against BJP as well as the EC.
AAP claimed that the Election Commission and the Delhi police protected BJP workers and accused them of “hooliganism.” Kejriwal wrote to the supreme election commissioner and expressed concern about intimidation and harassment from AAP -volunteer of BJP workers. EC replied that no written complaints could be traced in most cases, but assured that all registered complaints are being investigated.
Kejriwal further criticized the Election Commission for allegingly refusing to publish Form 17c in public, a document describing the number of votes held at each condition. AAP then launched a website, transparent elections.in, and claimed to upload form 17c data for all constituencies to present the data in an available format.
The EF rejected Kejriwal’s claims of Form 17C, stating that copies had already been supplied to electoral agents at each condition by voting, in accordance with Rule 49s for the implementation of Election Rules, 1961.