New Delhi, Feb. 8 -- In major upsets to the AAP, which managed to secure only 22 seats in the Delhi Assembly elections 2025, was the defeat of two of its most prominent leaders - Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia - at the hands of BJP candidates Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma and Tarvinder Singh Marwah, respectively. The party, which lost 48 seats to the BJP, saw its national convenor fall short in the New Delhi constituency, while former Deputy CM Sisodia was defeated in Jangpura.
The New Delhi seat witnessed a tense three-way contest between Kejriwal, BJP's Parvesh and Congress' Sandeep Dikshit. It was a see-saw battle throughout the day.
As the vote counting progressed, Kejriwal's fortunes alternated between trailing and leading before ultimately losing by a margin of 4,089 votes to Verma. Congress' Dikshit, son of former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, finished a distant third with only 4,568 votes.
Following his defeat, Kejriwal accepted the verdict with humility, posting a video on X. "We accept people's mandate with humility, and I congratulate the BJP for its victory. I also hope that it will fulfill the expectations of the people of Delhi," he stated. Emphasizing AAP's commitment to the people, he added, "In the next five years, the AAP will not only play the role of a constructive Opposition but will also be available to the people of Delhi. We are not in politics for power; instead, we consider it a medium to serve people."
Parvesh the giant-slayer
Parvesh, the man who unseated Kejriwal, is a two-time MP from West Delhi and comes from a politically influential family. His father, Sahib Singh Verma, was a former BJP leader and Delhi CM. His uncle, Azad Singh, previously served as the Mayor of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and contested the 2013 elections from Mundka on a BJP ticket.
Following his victory, Verma refrained from speculating about the next CM of Delhi, stating, "Who will be Chief Minister will be decided by the central leadership." BJP's Delhi president Virendra Sachdeva echoed the same sentiment, confirming that the party's top leadership would take a call on the matter. He credited the BJP's success to its relentless campaigning and development-focused agenda. "The people have picked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership because they wanted a model of development," Sachdeva asserted, emphasising the voters' desire for a corruption-free governance model.
Another major blow for the AAP came in the Jangpura constituency, where Sisodia, once Kejriwal's trusted deputy and a three-time winner from Patparganj, lost by a narrow margin of 675 votes to BJP's Marwah. Marwah, a former Congress leader who switched to the BJP in 2022, secured 38,859 votes to edge out Sisodia.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.