Sat Feb 08 12:58:07 UTC 2025: **Delhi BJP’s Landslide Victory: Did Congress’s Solo Run Help BJP Win?**
NEW DELHI — The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the Delhi Assembly elections, ending the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) decade-long rule. A key factor being debated is the impact of the Congress party’s independent campaign, which garnered 6% of the vote share but zero seats. Analysts suggest that this split in opposition votes significantly aided the BJP’s victory.
While the BJP secured 45% of the vote share and AAP 43%, several key AAP candidates lost by narrow margins, with the Congress consistently capturing a substantial portion of votes in these constituencies. NDTV examined 11 such seats where this pattern was evident.
In New Delhi, AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal lost to BJP’s Parvesh Verma by 4,089 votes, with Congress candidate Sandeep Dikshit securing 4,568 votes. Similarly, in Jangpura, Manish Sisodia lost by a mere 675 votes, with Congress’s Farhad Suri garnering 7,350 votes. Similar scenarios played out in Greater Kailash, Malviya Nagar, Badli, Timarpur, Nangloi Jat, Rajinder Nagar, Chhatarpur, Sangam Vihar, and Trilokpuri, where Congress vote shares consistently exceeded the BJP’s winning margins over AAP.
The AAP has criticized Congress for allegedly working in tandem with the BJP, while the Congress denies responsibility for AAP’s losses. Regardless of the accusations, the data clearly indicates that in several crucial constituencies, a significant portion of votes that could have gone to AAP were captured by the Congress, bolstering the BJP’s chances of victory. While the BJP undoubtedly performed strongly, the Congress’s failure to form an alliance significantly impacted the election’s outcome.
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