Delhi Election Results 2025 Highlights: Who will be the next Delhi CM? Where will AAP and Kejriwal go from here?

AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal's defeat marks a completely new chapter for his party, as he has personally not suffered a loss since the 2013 win, barring when he stood against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The 2014 election, though, was more symbolic than anything else.

Even when the AAP suffered setbacks in its bids to expand, New Delhi provided the cushion Kejriwal needed to stay in contention.

Now, not only has Kejriwal himself lost, but also former deputy CM Manish Sisodia, his No. 2 and the face of its education model. Can the AAP survive the Delhi loss and bounce back is the test before the party – for its future not just in the Capital but also nationally – particularly given that it draws its oxygen from Kejriwal. Mallica Joshi writes

The AAP loss in the Delhi Assembly elections has raised questions about the impact it will have in Punjab, with party leaders admitting there will be repercussions in the only state where the Arvind Kejriwal-led party remains in power.

“The AAP has similar big-ticket projects in both Delhi and Punjab, such as free power and mohalla clinics. Kejriwal’s popularity in Delhi had created a similar effect in Punjab. It was after the AAP’s victories in Delhi that Punjab’s electorate voted for AAP in the 2022 Assembly elections. How we do in Delhi certainly has an impact in Punjab,” said an AAP leader in Punjab.

An AAP leader said with Delhi lost, Kejriwal would have Punjab to concentrate on for the next two years till the state goes to polls. “This would certainly lead to interference. The former Delhi CM will control the state government,” the AAP functionary added. Kanchan Vasdev, Man Aman Singh Chinna, and Raakhi Jagga bring voices from Punjab, where the AAP's defeat in Delhi will have its most impact.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s defeat in the Delhi Assembly polls coupled with the Congress’s decimation is set to roil the Opposition INDIA bloc further. There would be increasing calls for the replacement of the Congress as the de facto leader of the alliance, which has been tottering since the Lok Sabha elections last year.

The Congress is set to face intense heat from the INDIA allies as several of them believe the grand old party has not been able to take along everyone and give direction to the bloc. The Trinamool Congress (TMC), for one, is keen that its supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is given the responsibility to lead the alliance, but it is easier said than done.

In the wake of the Lok Sabha elections, the INDIA bloc has effectively worked only in Parliament where the allies would coordinate their floor strategies to try and corner the Narendra Modi-led NDA government. Outside, the bloc came undone in the Haryana Assembly polls, held in October last year, where the Congress had appeared to be under an illusion that it could defeat the BJP on its own steam. — Manoj C G writes

While it has lost power in Delhi, the AAP will retain the national party status that it was accorded by the Election Commission in April 2023. One criteria for a party to be declared a national party as per the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 is that it must be a state party in four or more states. The AAP had been declared a state party in Punjab, Goa, Gujarat and Delhi based on its vote percentage and seats in the last cycle of Assembly elections there. In Delhi, AAP retains its state party status, which is given to those parties that get at least 6% of the total valid votes and get at least 2 MLAs in the Assembly elections, among other criteria. — Damini Nath

According to latest trends, apart from Mustafabad, the AAP candidates are comfortably ahead in Chandni Chowk, Matia Mahal, Babarpur, Seelampur, Okhla, and Ballimaran. Five years ago, the party had won all seven seats by big margins. However, in the run-up to the polls, AAP leaders had admitted that the margins may see a dip.

Despite an underlying feeling within the community that the AAP had not stood by it, especially during the 2020 riots and anti-CAA protests, Muslims saw the AAP as the only viable option that could pose a challenge to the BJP. — Asad Rehman writes

The victory for the BJP in Delhi is another affirmation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image as an election winner remains undented.

The win comes on the back of big Assembly poll victories by the BJP in Maharashtra and Assembly, two states where it was seen as heading for a defeat. A return to power in Delhi after more than 27 years would decisively shake off the shadow cast on the BJP by the Lok Sabha results, less than a year ago. The Delhi win will also be a reaffirmation of the credibility of “Modi’s guarantees” at a time when all the parties – both national and regional – are vying with each other on welfare politics. As well as the credibility of the PM’s promise of “good governance”.

Defeating the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) goes beyond Delhi for the BJP as the Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit challenged the latter’s dominance in the North. Not having the Capital under it even as it redefined politics across the country remained an eyesore for the BJP. — Liz Mathew writes

If the early trends in Delhi hold and the AAP loses power, the repercussions will be felt in Punjab too. The Punjab unit of AAP had campaigned in the national capital for over a month, with leaders starting from Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to state president Aman Arora, and all Cabinet ministers, MLAs, and chairpersons of municipal boards and corporations hitting the campaign trail.

"The AAP has similar big-ticket projects in both Delhi and Punjab. While Delhi’s population gets free power and Punjab’s population also gets free power. The AAP swears by mohalla clinics in both places. It was after AAP’s victories in Delhi that Punjab’s electorate voted for AAP in the 2022 Assembly elections. How we do in Delhi certainly has an impact in Punjab," said an AAP leader. — Kanchan Vasdev

A silver lining seems ironic on a day that the Congress is staring at a humiliating fourth consecutive defeat in Delhi.

However, the party might see something positive in the possible setback for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The demise of the AAP, the Congress believes, is the only path to its revival in the long term in the national capital.

As per preliminary indications Saturday, the Congress hadn’t taken much off the AAP vote share, barely adding to the 4.26% it got last time. Now, the party will be seeing whether its candidates polled more votes than the margin of victory in seats where the AAP has lost to the BJP. Still, Congress insiders say, their decision to go on the offensive against the AAP was correct as it had sensed “anger building up against the AAP”. — Manoj C G writes

The BJP’s Delhi campaign pivoted around Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was the face of the BJP's guarantees and promises. Crucially, the party said it would retain and build on the AAP's promises.

Along with the PM face, the BJP relied on surveys conducted at multiple levels within its hierarchy to choose more popular candidates — such as councillors and local leaders — based on work they had delivered under their jurisdiction. This seemed to have paid off, with the party leading in 41 seats as per Election Commission numbers. — Jatin Anand

According to sources, talk about the next possible Delhi CM has so far revolved around the possibility of one of its seven Lok Sabha MPs taking over. There also seems to be interest in picking an OBC, particularly Jat, face.

If he is able to defeat AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal, former west Delhi MP Parvesh Verma, the son of late Delhi CM Sahib Singh Verma, could be a top contender.

Sources also indicate that a woman Lok Sabha MP could be chosen. If an MP is chosen, a senior leader from the Delhi unit of the BJP may be fielded for a bypoll on the vacated LS seat. A woman BJP MLA, if elected, could also be considered in the running, according to party sources. — Jatin Anand reports

Of Delhi’s 70 constituencies, Muslims are a decisive factor in seven: Mustafabad, Chandni Chowk, Matia Mahal, Baburpur, Seelampur, Okhla, and Ballimaran. In 2020, the AAP comfortably won all seven .

However, AAP leaders accept that the party’s margins may drop in these constituencies this time.

The response to the 2020 riots might be a reason. A doctor at Al-Hind hospital in Northeast Delhi’s Mustafabad that served as the first responders for the injured in the 2020 riots said: “Yes, there was anger over the riots and how the AAP government remained mute spectators But that was then. Now, it is about survival, about roti, kapda, aur makaan (bread-and-butter issues). And to survive, the BJP must be kept out of power.”— Asad Rehman and Saman Hussain

Delhi Assembly Election Results 2025 LIVE Updates: After exit polls, AAP starts preparing for the worst

AAP leaders have asserted the exit polls had again got it wrong and the party would win a confident majority for the third time in a row in Delhi, citing inputs from their inputs on the ground.

But a senior party leader said the door to negotiations with the Congress remains open, and it will take the party’s help if necessary.

“While things will be clear only by mid-afternoon on Saturday, some leaders are in touch with Congress leaders. The Congress ran a vitriolic campaign against us, and if they get seats, it will be at our cost. That said, we are all part of the INDIA bloc. A government with outside support is not out of the question,” a party insider said. -- Mallica Joshi

The BJP labels the AAP as a purveyor of “revdis” (or “freebies”) but assures voters the existing schemes and more. For instance, if AAP says it will give Rs 2,100 a month to women, the BJP pledges Rs 2,500 monthly.

The BJP’s USP in Delhi may lie less in the commitments it makes to individual voters as the AAP has beat its own base. It lies, more, in a set of appeals that are also a prominent part of the BJP’s pitch elsewhere: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invocation of larger, powerful wholes of “desh (nation)” and India in the world, and narratives of big “development”. The BJP’s prospects will come down to this idea, Vandita Mishra writes.

The Delhi poll is the first election under the graft cloud for former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal who rose to power riding an anti-corruption movement.

However, the excise policy charges against Kejriwal, which landed him in jail, or the BJP’s high-pitch ‘Sheesh Mahal’ campaign accusing him of spending lavishly on the CM’s residence, don’t seem to be cutting much ice with AAP supporters on the ground.

They either dismiss these charges as political, noting that “all parties are corrupt”, or don’t believe them at all.It is only among the middle class that the issue finds some traction, with some voters saying they are shifting loyalties due to the allegations. Read Deeptiman Tiwary's report for the full picture