Delhi Poll Result: Zero for Congress Despite Gains, Could Tie-Up Have Saved AAP?
Delhi Election Results 2025: Had the Congress and AAP fought together, the alliance could've secured 14 more seats.
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With the BJP ensuring a comeback in Delhi after 27 long years and the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) staring at a certain defeat, with its seat share reducing to less than half, the 2025 Assembly Elections in the capital city have delivered a shocker for some.
However, one aspect has remained consistent—the Congress has maintained a single-digit vote share, albeit with slight improvement as compared to the 2020 elections, and has been relegated to the third position in most seats.
Although the Grand Old Party increased its vote share from 4.3 percent to over 6 percent, it held the third position in at least 65 out of the total 70 Assembly seats in Delhi.
There is, however, one outlier. In Kasturba Nagar, Congress candidate Abhishek Dutt lost by a margin of over 11,000 votes. Here, AAP candidate Ramesh Pahelwan was at the third spot, securing over 18,600 votes.
Could An Alliance with Congress Ensured AAP’s Victory in Delhi?
In 13 seats, the Congress candidate at the third position has secured more votes than BJP's victory margin. And these include seats where key candidates of the Aam Aadmi Party, including National Convener Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Saurabh Bharadwaj have lost by wafer-thin margins.
For instance, in Badli, AAP candidate Ajesh Yadav lost to the BJP by a margin of over 15,000 votes while Congress candidate Devender Yadav was at the third spot, securing over 41,000 votes — more than twice the victory margin.
In Mehrauli, the Congress was at the fourth spot and yet secured more votes than the victory margin.
As per the Election Commission, the BJP is leading 48 seats—a comfortable majority over the halfway mark of 35 seats; while AAP has been drummed out of Delhi, leading in only 22 seats and facing a staggering loss of 40 seats as compared to their 2020 tally.
In the run up to the Assembly elections in Delhi a rift in the I.N.D.I.A bloc was palpable, with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party and Mamata Banerjee’s All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) pulling their weight behind AAP even as the Congress decided to go solo and take on Kejriwal.
Had the Congress and AAP fought together, the alliance could have secured at least 14 more seats, inching closer to the halfway mark.
Taking a jibe at the two parties, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, whose party National Conference is a part of the I.N.D.I.A alliance, wrote on X:
With this poll drubbing, the Congress certainly has been decimated in the capital city—having not formed the government since 2013 and not sent an MP from Delhi since 2014.
In fact, in at least three seats where Rahul Gandhi campaigned—Patparganj, Seelampur, and Okhla — the Congress polled 11.1%, 12.4% and 6.08% respectively, leading to the party's candidates losing their deposit.
A candidate must secure at least 1/6th (16.67%) of the total valid votes in a constituency, failing which, they lose their security deposit.
Kejriwal Concedes Defeat, Loses New Delhi Seat
Kejriwal on Saturday, 8 February conceded defeat as he also lost from his constituency - New Delhi. He said that his party will play the role of a responsible opposition in the Delhi Assembly.
Meanwhile, outgoing chief minister Atishi Marlena secured a victory from Kalkaji seat, defeating BJP candidate Ramesh Bidhuri by a margin of over 3,500 votes. Manish Sisodia, however, was one among several AAP heavyweights, who lost his Jangpura seat to BJP's Tarvinder Singh Marwah.