BBC News, Delhi
![Prime Minister Getty Images Narendra Modi addresses during the Vikashit Delhi Sankalp rally for the next elections of the Delhi Assembly in sector 12, RK Puram, on February 2, 2025 in New Delhi, India.](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/4f13/live/557d67b0-e5e8-11ef-b13e-072a2dac5541.jpg.webp)
Prime Minister Narendra’s party will modify the government of the Indian capital Delhi for the first time in 27 years, because it has scripted an impressive electoral victory.
The Bharatiya Janata (BJP) party has won or leads in 48 seats within the legislative assembly of 70 members, while the party in place Aam Aadmi (AAP) is ahead in 22 seats, according to data from the India electoral commission (CE).
A party that earns more than the half of 35 seats can form the government.
“Development wins, good governance triumphs”, modification wrote on x, adding his The party would leave “no non -returned stone” in the development of Delhi.
In a video message on X, the former Delhi chief of the AAP, Arvind Kejriwal, said He and his party “humbly accepted” the people’s verdict and congratulated the BJP for his victory.
“I hope they meet the expectations of people who voted for them,” he said.
The election was a prestigious battle for the BJP and the AAP, given the symbolic importance of Delhi as the country’s capital.
The city, a territory administered by the federal government, was governed by the AAP since 2013, the voters supporting its solid report of Welfarism. But the party and its leaders recently faced several challenges, the leaders involved in allegations of corruption they have denied.
For the BJP, the security of Delhi represents more than electoral success – it marks a crucial foot in the national capital after having been out of power since 1998.
The party has launched resources in the Delhi campaign, with Modi as well as the Minister of the Interior Amit Shah attending events.
The Congress, the main opposition party at the national level, was also in the race, but did not win a single seat.
The party ruled Delhi from 1998 to 2013, but was ousted by allegations of corruption which saw the voters turn to the AAP. He has not managed to make a brand since.
![The people of Getty Images voted in a center of stands in the village of Pochanpur in the southwest of Delhi, on February 5, 2025 in New Delhi, India.](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/39ed/live/231d4210-e5eb-11ef-bb30-af8347af2340.jpg.webp)
Experts say that the victory of politically crucial Delhi will strengthen Modi’s popularity among Indian voters after his party has lost its pure and simple majority in general election.
The defeat is a hard blow for the AAP, a much smaller party rented in its first years in power to focus on improving education and health establishments in the city. He also governs the state of Punjab, but the maintenance of Delhi would have been a triumph for the besieged party in the face of questions about his future.
After more than a decade of power in Delhi, the AAP call decreased, in particular among the middle class, which was attracted to the anti-corruption position of Kejriwal. Kejriwal, formerly champion of the anti -corruption movement led by the middle class, had pivoted to become the party of the poor – it is not yet clear when the poor and the Delhi’s difficulty class have abandoned it.
The allegations of corruption, the imprisonment of the main leaders and the arrest of Kejriwal damaged the AAP campaign, creating a void that the BJP quickly filled. Supported by vast resources and a powerful electoral machine, the “double engine” ground of the BJP – where the governments of the states and federals are governed by the same party – promised to stability and better governance.
This is a historic victory – the first majority of Delhi du BJP in almost 30 years. His message “Parivartan” (change) struck an agreement, but his political and financial muscle sealed the victory of the landslide.
Fresh Off Wins in the states of Haryana and Maharashtra, this cement the resurgence of the BJP after the back of the general elections of last year. With Delhi slippery, the fragmented opposition is in disarray, while the BJP enters the following electoral cycle with a clear hand.
On Saturday, the biggest upheavals of the AAP included respectively the senior leaders Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in the constituencies of New Delhi and Jangpura.
The outgoing Minister of Atishi had only a close victory in the Kalkaji district.
More than 60% of eligible voters voted. Most of the exit polls had predicted an absolute majority for the BJP, although such predictions have gone wrong in the past.
![EPA Kejriwal and the chief minister of Delhi Atishi during the electoral campaign](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/2eb8/live/d0bc2f60-e45d-11ef-b1c1-db98e78afd8c.jpg.webp)
A large part of the targeted BJP campaign KejriwalAn anti -grafting activist, which – with Sisodia – had been imprisoned in the past two years in a case of corruption relating to a policy of sale of alcohol now precipitated. The two leaders, who deny all the accusations, separately obtained the deposit Last year after Spend months in prison.
Kejriwal accused the party of Modi of having made a “political vendetta” against him and the AAP, that the BJP denies.
Delhi has a single governance structure. The main decisions related to public order, police and land are taken by Lieutenant Governor (LG) which is appointed by the federal government. State legislature manages issues, including education, health and public services.
This division has often caused friction between the federal government and the state legislature when managed by rival parties.
The structure of power was also a reason why the electoral campaign in Delhi was more focused on well-being than on political or identity issues, which play a more important role in the elections elsewhere in the country.
The AAP and BJP campaigns have both promised improvements to public schools and free health services, as well as cash documents to women.
Meanwhile, the BJP hoped for a boost compared to last week federal budgetwhich has reduced the income tax of the middle class, a key voting block in the capital.
A subject, however, has largely remained outside the agenda during the bitter campaign of weeks – the lasting crisis of atmospheric pollution of Delhi, which affects the city by more than 30 million for a large part of the year.
The BJP had promised to reduce the city quality (AQI) index of the city by 2030 if it won, and other parties also referred to the crisis of their manifests. But the problem did not dominate discussions or become a subject of discussion in the electoral campaign.
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