Friday, Mar 14 2025 | Time 17:11 Hrs(IST)
India


BJP returns to power in Delhi after 27 years; PM hails landslide victory

BJP returns to power in Delhi after 27 years; PM hails landslide victory

New Delhi, Feb 8 (UNI) After a long wait of 27 years, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today returned to power in Delhi with a two-thirds majority to end the 10-year rule of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).


By winning 48 seats in the 70-member Assembly, which had gone to the hustings on February 5, the BJP got two-thirds majority for the first time in 31 years. Earlier, it had got 49 seats in the November, 1993, Assembly polls.


The AAP, which had stormed to power in 2013 as a new entrant in politics, managed to win only 22 seats this time against 62 it had in the outgoing Assembly.


Its performance was so bad that even its Founder-National Convenor and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal lost from the prestigious New Delhi constituency from where he had been elected thrice consecutively earlier.


The Congress was yet again completely routed, failing to open its account for the third time in a row in the Delhi Assembly. Most of its candidates lost their security deposit.


Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had led the BJP's campaign, hailed the party's landslide victory saying "Development wins and good governance triumphs".


He emphasised, "We will leave no stone unturned for the all-round development of Delhi".


On the other hand, Kejriwal in a video message conceded defeat and vowed to play the role of a constructive opposition.


The former Chief Minister said, "I humbly accept the mandate of the people and also congratulate the BJP for their victory. I hope the BJP will fulfill all the promises they have made for which the people of Delhi have voted them".


Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said, the party would continue to fight against pollution, inflation and corruption.

Accepting the mandate, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said people voted for change in the Delhi Assembly polls and conceded that "we have to work harder and be responsive to people's issues".

The BJP previously won the Delhi Assembly polls in 1993 but lost power to the Congress in 1998, and since then it has been in the opposition in the prestigious Union Territory, which is the heart of National Capital Region.


In the day's vote count, BJP's Parvesh Verma turned out to be the giant slayer by defeating former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by a margin of over 4,000 votes from the New Delhi Assembly constituency.


Among other AAP bigshots, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia lost to Tarvinder Singh Marwah of the BJP by a margin of over 600 votes, while incumbent Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj was humbled by BJP's
Shikha Roy with a 3188-vote margin.


The silver lining for AAP was the victories of Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and Minister Gopal Rai.


After a snake and ladder game in Kalkaji, Atishi defeated her nearest rival BJP's Ramesh Bidhuri with a margin of 3521 and Gopal Rai won the Babarpur seat by almost 19000 votes.


Prominent BJP candidates who won their seats included Kapil Mishra from Karawal Nagar, Manjinder Singh Sirsa from Rajouri Garden, Mohan Singh Bisht from Mustafabad.


Kailash Gahlot, who joined BJP from AAP ahead of the election, won the Bijwasan seat, while Satish Upadhyay won from Malviya Nagar by upsetting another prominent AAP leader and former Delhi Minister Somnath Bharti.


Other notable BJP victors were Raj Kumar Chauhan from Mangol Puri, Vijender Gupta from Rohini, Karnail Singh from Shakur Basti, Ravinder Singh Negi from Patparganj and former Congressman Arvinder Singh Lovely from Gandhi Nagar.


The AAP had created a sensation by coming to power in Delhi for 49 days with outside support of the Congress in 2013 only a year after the party was founded. It had been ruling the Union Territory at a stretch since 2015.


With regards to vote share, BJP got 45.56 percent votes while AAP secured 43.57 vote share, and the Congress could garner only 6.34 percent of the popular mandae.


In the 2020 elections, the AAP had retained power by winning 62 seats, while the BJP got the remaining eight.
UNI TEAM SSP-RBE AKK

More News
Foreign Ministers/Deputy PMs of 20 countries to address Raisina Dialogue

Foreign Ministers/Deputy PMs of 20 countries to address Raisina Dialogue

14 Mar 2025 | 1:36 PM

New Delhi, Mar 14 (UNI) The foreign ministers/deputy prime ministers of 20 countries, including the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, will be attending the Raisina Dialogue being held in New Delhi from March 17-19.

see more..
India strongly rejects Pakistan's baseless allegations over Jaffar train attack

India strongly rejects Pakistan's baseless allegations over Jaffar train attack

14 Mar 2025 | 10:42 AM

New Delhi, Mar 14 (UNI) India today strongly rejected Pakistan's "baseless allegations" over the Jaffar train attack and slammed Islamabad saying the whole world knows where the global epicentre of terrorism lies.

see more..
Interpol assistance sought in search for missing Indian-American student in Dominican Republic

Interpol assistance sought in search for missing Indian-American student in Dominican Republic

13 Mar 2025 | 11:46 PM

Punta Cana/New Delhi, Mar 13 (UNI) Interpol’s assistance has been sought in the search for missing Indian-American student, Sudiksha Konanki, 20, who went missing in Punta Cana, a resort town in the Dominican Republic, on March 6.

see more..

Modi visit: Local journalists in Mauritius upset with Indian media getting preferential treatment

13 Mar 2025 | 7:20 PM

Port Louis/New Delhi, Mar 13 (UNI) Local media persons in Mauritius are peeved with the alleged preferential treatment given to Indian media persons in covering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day action-packed visit to Port Louis.

see more..
IAF officer fractures leg during Akash Ganga flying exercise rehearsals in Mauritius: Report

IAF officer fractures leg during Akash Ganga flying exercise rehearsals in Mauritius: Report

13 Mar 2025 | 6:51 PM

Port Louis/New Delhi, Mar 13 (UNI) An Indian Air Force (IAF) officer was reportedly injured during a parachuting practice session in Port Louis, ahead of participation in Mauritius’ National Day celebrations, a report said.

see more..