Why the issue of power cuts has become a political hot potato in Delhi

While the issue has become the first test for the BJP two months after it came to power in Delhi, it has given the AAP an

opportunity to take on the ruling party over the issue of delivering public services “in a seamless manner like the last 10 years” when it was at the helm of governance.

For the Congress, which drew a blank yet again in the Delhi elections, the issue has afforded a chance to train its guns at both BJP and its INDIA bloc partner AAP.

With AAP protesting outside the Delhi Assembly as well as raking up the issue on the floor of the House, Power Minister Ashish Sood had said on Wednesday that action will be taken against those posting “misleading” information on power cuts.

On Monday, he accused former chief minister Atishi of “repeatedly making false statements about power outages in Delhi to mislead the public and create panic”, adding that legal action is being explored against those spreading “misinformation”.

Citing data, Sood said 51,958 instances of power cuts exceeding five hours were reported in the last 10 years. This means there was an average of 14 outages per day that lasted over five hours.

Speaking to mediapersons, he said, “Globally, no power network can function without scheduled shutdowns for maintenance… Minutes of a meeting on power issues, dated May 23, 2023, held under the then government were reviewed, which exposed several key facts, including power companies reporting multiple instances of extended power cuts lasting three to four hours.”

“The minutes also revealed that during the summer preparedness review meeting on June 23, the then power minister had inquired about areas experiencing frequent three- to four-hour-long power outages,” he added.

“If they (Atishi and former CM Arvind Kejriwal) claim there was not a single minute of power outage during their tenure, it means they neglected essential power maintenance altogether. This is nothing but political opportunism… Strict legal action under BNS will be taken against those who falsely accuse and disrupt the city’s harmony,” said Sood.

Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav, alleging that the BJP government “does not seem to have any concrete action plan to meet the high power demands”, alleged that like the previous Kejriwal government, the Rekha Gupta government “is also trying to help the discoms by looting consumers”.

The AAP, which was in power in Delhi between 2015 and 2025, counts its work and policies

on power among its biggest achievements. Among the AAP government’s most popular schemes is one that promised free power to everyone who uses less than 200 units per month. The BJP government is continuing with the scheme.

Several surveys over the past decade have shown that the AAP’s free power scheme was among the main reasons behind the poor people voting for it.

Having found itself in the Opposition after the BJP’s resounding victory in the February Delhi polls, the AAP has now taken up the issue of power cuts. The party leadership, including Atishi, Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and several MLAs, have been reposting complaints of power cuts posted on social media.

On March 28, Kejriwal posted on X, “We had set up the power system in Delhi with great difficulty, we had worked very hard. And we kept an eye on it daily. There was no power cut anywhere for 10 years. These people have made the power situation worse in just one and a half months.”

On Thursday, AAP leader Jasmine Shah told mediapersons, “I will cite data from just one discom — BYPL East Delhi. On March 25, Sadar Bazar faced a 37-minute power outage. These are all unplanned power cuts, recorded as ‘breakdowns’ in official records. Shastri Park had a 48-minute outage, Loni Road in Nand Nagri saw a 27-minute cut, Trilokpuri faced a 20-minute outage, it was 22 minutes for Nand Nagri, and 45 minutes for Chhapparwala.”

Earlier in the day, AAP held protests at Kalkaji, ISBT Kashmere Gate, and Burari, putting up banners that read ‘BJP Aayi — Bijli Gayi’.

“Never has such a hue and cry happened (when it comes to power cuts). We, the AAP, are not saying that rampant power cuts are happening, the people of Delhi are,” Atishi told The Indian Express.

A senior AAP leader said the party would, adding issues with water supply to the list, hit the streets over the issue of lack of adequate or seamless supply of these services in the coming days.

Sood, meanwhile, maintained that there is no outrage over power cuts among the public.

“It is all propaganda created by the AAP. These people were in government for 10 years… do they not know the significance and meaning of maintenance-related power cuts?”

“Can someone maintain the power infrastructure without disconnecting the electricity supply? We don’t need to answer them every day… the companies that they are referring to themselves are countering them,” he added.