Why did the Aam Aadmi Party lose the Delhi Assembly Elections 2025?

Did Congress play a significant role in defeating the AAP?

Has the brand of Arvind Kejriwal eroded to such an extent that the former Delhi Chief Minister failed to save his seat?

Could the AAP and Congress win the Delhi Elections had they fought the polls together?

Will Rahul Gandhi face the flack for fielding the candidates who contributed to the defeat of AAP stalwarts like Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia?

AAP Decides To Fight Delhi Elections Alone

It was Arvind Kejriwal who abruptly and unilaterally announced that the AAP would go alone in the Delhi Elections in November at a time when the talks for seat sharing between the two parties were still going on.

The central leadership of Congress asked its Delhi unit to wrap up the Pad-Yatra that the state unit had planned. Rahul Gandhi and other leaders were shocked as they were expecting an alliance with the AAP.

Did AAP Stalwarts Lose Because Of Congress

Kejriwal paid a heavy price for this. According to Election Commission of India data, he lost to BJP’s Parvesh Verma by a margin of 3,865 votes while Congress candidate Sandip Dikshit got 4,254 votes. While Kejriwal garnered 24583 votes, Verma got 28,448 votes.

Another AAP stalwart Saurabh Bhardwaj to BJP’s Shikha Roy by a margin of 3188 votes, while Congress candidate Garvit Singvi garnered 6,177 votes. While the BJP candidate received 49,594 votes, the AAP got 46,406 votes.

Similarly, AAP leader Rakhi Birla lost to BJP’s Kailash Gangwal with a margin of 10,899 votes while Congress candidate JP Panwar garnered 17,958 votes.

These are just a few examples. The grand old parties have once again failed to win a single seat in the 70-member Delhi assembly, but it has succeeded in getting much more votes than earlier attempts.

AAP Plus Congress More Than BJP

The congress candidates have proved to be instrumental in defeating the AAP candidates in many constituencies, though they have lost.

On certain seats, the Congress has finished second, losing the election to BJP. It can be said that the saffron party played a crucial role in defeating the grand old party.

There are also certain constituencies where the number of votes received by the AAP and Congress combined is more than that polled by the BJP.

Badli is an example. Congress candidate Devender Yadav got 31,130 votes while AAP’s Rajesh Yadav received 35,668 votes. Their combined vote of 66,798 is 20,669 more than 46,129 votes polled by BJP candidate Aahir Deepak Chaudhary.

It is clear that had the AAP and Congress fought together, they could win this seat.

Similarly, BJP’s Kailash Gehlot from Bijwasan won the polls as he got 62377 votes. While AAP’s Surender Bhardwaj got 52544 votes, Col Devinder Sherawat got 9039 votes. Had the two parties fought together, they could have defeated the BJP.

A study shows that had the AAP and Congress won together, they could have won at least 20 constituencies.

Why Did AAP, Congress Part Ways

The message is clear. The BJP swept the polls because the AAP and Congress failed to have a seat-sharing deal before the polls.

If media reports are to be believed, leaders of the Delhi Congress wanted to contest the election separately to win back their support base lost to the AAP.

However, the Congress central leadership wanted to fight the polls by joining hands with the AAP so that the saffron party could be defeated and the the unity of INDIA bloc could have remained intact.

On the other hand, the AAP was confident of its victory. Analysts believe, the party became arrogant to some extent and refused to gauge the possible impact of anti-incumbency sentiments.

Did Politics Of Freebies Fail?

The party established itself as a champion of freebie politics and failed to see that the middle class wanted something more. It did not realise that the middle-class voters wanted good roads, better infrastructure and good governance.

The AAP failed to feel the pulse of the people correctly and refused to accept the fact that its brand Kejriwal has eroded to a large extent.

An arrogant AAP refused to share seats with Congress and the result has shown the consequences.