Voting for Delhi’s 70 Assembly seats took place on 5 February, and the results are being tallied today.
If the current trends hold, the BJP could end the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) decade-long rule and secure its first state election victory in Delhi in 32 years. The BJP stands to cement its dominance if it secures this small, but symbolic and strategic, state that has eluded it for the longest time.
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For AAP, a relatively young party, even a reduction in seats—let alone a complete loss of power—would mark a major setback in the very state that propelled its rise. The outcome could have far-reaching implications for its future trajectory.
Here are five charts, based on data from ECI, that capture the election results of Delhi as they stood at 1030 am. Note that these are still early counting rounds. In some constituencies, only one to three rounds of votes had been counted, and the picture could change as the day progresses.
Seat position
The ECI had put out data on all 70 seats in Delhi by 1030 am. The BJP is in pole position, leading in 43 seats. That is a gain of 35 seats over its showing in the 2020 state elections.
AAP, which had swept Delhi with 62 seats in 2020, is projected to lose seats this time around based on early trends. It is down to 27 seats today so far, and staring at its first time on the Opposition benches in Delhi.
The Indian National Congress (INC), the third major party in the fray and still the longest ruler in Delhi’s history, continued its spell in the wilderness.
Prominent candidates who are leading include Arvind Kejriwal of AAP, and Kailash Gahlot and Vijender Gupta of AAP. Prominent candidates who are trailing include Manish Sisodia, Atishi and Satyendar Jain of AAP, Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma and Arvinder Singh Lovely of BJP, and Sandeep Dikshit and Alka Lamba of INC.
Vote share
Delhi recorded an overall voter turnout of 60.5% in 2025, which was about 2 percentage points lower than 62.5% in 2020. Women registered a higher turnout than men.
As with seats, the BJP is leading all parties in vote share, too. It has a vote share of 48.6% so far, which is lower than the 54.4% it polled in the 2024 general election in Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha seats, but as much as 10% higher than what it secured in 2020.
By comparison, AAP’s vote share fell from 53.6% in 2020 to 42.7% in 2025. The INC’s insignificance in Delhi continues—its vote share had gone from 48% in 2003 to 25% in 2013 to 4.3% in 2020. In 2025, it is at 6.7% at this stage.
AAP had fought the 2024 general elections in alliance with the INC. In Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha seats, at the assembly constituency (AC) level, this was split into 40 ACs for AAP and 30 ACs for INC. However, the two parties did not extend their alliance to the 2025 state election. In this election, the AAP-INC combined vote share (49.4%) is higher than that of the BJP (48.6%) based on the trends so far.
Win margins
Compared to 2020, this is a closer election. In 46 of the 70 constituencies, the lead margin of the leading party is above 10%. The BJP is leading in 31 such seats and AAP in 15 seats. But in 12 seats, the lead margin is below 5%, with seven of those slim leads belonging to AAP and five to BJP.
BJP comeback
Delhi’s first election in its current legislative assembly form took place in 1993. It was won by the BJP, and that five-year term saw three chief ministerial changes—Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj. In the 1998 election, the BJP lost to the INC, which went on to rule the state till 2013, and establish party leader and three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit as an able administrator who also commanded substantial political clout.
The emergence of AAP in 2013 changed Delhi’s politics. In what was a straight fight between the BJP and INC, Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP entered as the third axis, and soon started setting the benchmarks for politics and governance. It has taken the BJP well over a decade, and tactics that have been ungainly at times, to unseat AAP. For the first time since 1993, the vote share of the BJP seems set to cross 40% in the Delhi state election.
State-Central Split
In its short history of just over a decade, AAP has always done far better in the Delhi state elections than in the Delhi seats for Lok Sabha. The difference has been stark.
In 2015, it secured a 21.4% mark-up in Assembly vote share over the preceding national elections. In 2020, it increased this mark-up to 35.5%. However, in this election, this is down to 18.6%.
AAP might be staring at a considerably diminished presence in Delhi. It is a party with significantly fewer resources and if it loses, will be left in power in only one state, Punjab.
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Its leader Arvind Kejriwal is seen by the BJP as one of its principal challengers, and the party will relish this opportunity to weaken his hand. This result could have massive implications on where AAP goes from here.
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