Delhi Election Results Today: AAP’s toughest challenge yet, BJP’s prestige at stake – 5 key points

Delhi Election Results Today: The counting of votes for the Delhi Elections is underway across 19 centres in the national capital. The voting for 70 seats was held on February 5.

The fight in the national capital was triangular with three major parties – the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress – in the poll fray. 

Toughest Test for AAP

The AAP, led by Arvind Kejriwal, is contesting its fourth assembly election in the national capital since 2012, when it was born out of anti-graft movement centered in Delhi.

AAP's first attempt at electoral politics was in 2013. The fledgling political outfit came out with stunning results when it dislodged the then Congress government led by late Sheila Dikshit, who was the chief minister for 15 years since 1998. Kejriwal became the chief minister with the support of the Congress party's support. Forty-nine days later, Kejriwal resigned.

The party improved its performance and won assembly elections in 2015 and 2020 quite comfortably. The BJP was left with single-digit seats in the Delhi assembly in the last two elections, and the Congress was completely wiped out after ruling Delhi for 15 years before 2013.

‘Fastest-growing political startup’

In the last ten years, AAP emerged as what many of its supporters refer to as the ‘fastest-growing political startup’ of the country. Not just in Delhi, AAP won 2022 assembly elections in Punjab too. It has presence beyond Delhi and Punjab in other states too earning it a national party status in 2022.

In the national capital, however, AAP continued to have an at-odds relationship with the BJP-led Union government and the office of the Centre's appointed Lieutenant Governors (L-G).

The last two years have been the toughest for Delhi's ruling party. Its leadership found itself at the centre of investigations by central investigation agencies over corruption allegations – mostly around the alleged Delhi Liquor Policy scam. AAP's top leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Satyendar Jain, were arrested, jailed and eventually released on bail.

The AAP sought a third straight term in Delhi– perhaps its toughest battle ever. AAP battled an anti-incumbency of ten years, and its leaders face corruption allegations. The election was clearly an existential battle for the party that came into being in the national capital over a decade ago.

The AAP banked on welfare schemes – old and new – and its ‘developmental’ record in the upcoming elections while facing a resurgent BJP and a dormant Congress.

Prestige Battle for BJP

For the BJP, the assembly election was a prestige battle having been out of power in the national capital for over 27 years. The last time BJP had a chief minister in Delhi was in 1998 – the late Sushma Swaraj for 52 days. 

The BJP's vote share in Delhi in 2013 polls was 33.1 per cent. It rose to 32.2 percent in 2015 and 38.5 per cent in 2020. The number of assembly seats, however, went down drastically – from 32 in 2015 to 8 in 2020.

This is despite the party's expanding presence across the country under Prime Minister Narendra Modi since 2014. The party, though, won all seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital in the last three parliamentary elections.

The BJP aimed to break AAP’s decade-long dominance in the national capital. The BJP is banking on the anti-incumbency against AAP, the corruption charges and PM Modi. With no CM face, the BJP campaign was launched with two back-to-back rallies accompanied by a mega infrastructure push by Modi days ahead of the poll date announcement.

The ‘Sheesh Mahal’ Poll Plank

Among other issues, the BJP and Modi highlighted the alleged ‘lavish spending’ in the construction of 6 Flagstaff Road residence of Arvind Kejriwal – 'Sheesh Mahal' – when he was chief minister before stepping down in September last year.

Using a corruption charge as a poll plank for someone who rose from being an anti-graft activist may fetch electoral dividends for the BJP, political analysts said. BJP state unit chief Virendra Sachdeva called the AAP dispensation in Delhi the government of ‘criminals on bail.’

For the Congress, Delhi is another one of many strongholds it lost in recent years. The grand old party was in power in Delhi for three consecutive terms from 1998 to 2013, before the AAP came to power for the first time in 2013.

The Congress Hopes

The Congress won sight seats in 2013 and none in 2015 and 2020 Delhi assembly polls. The Congress and the AAP, INDIA bloc partners nationally, are rivals in the national capital.

The Congress hoped to resurrect itself in Delhi election, especially after its abysmal performance in recent Haryana and Maharashtra assembly polls.