New Delhi, India – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has returned to power in the country’s capital Delhi after 27 years, trouncing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in a major setback for the anti-BJP opposition.Twelve years since their sensational ride to power in the 2013 assembly elections on the back of a popular anticorruption movement, it was clear Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, his deputy, had lost their constituencies well before vote counting had finished on Saturday.
The AAP temporarily locked down its party headquarters in central Delhi on Saturday afternoon as celebrations broke out at the nearby BJP offices, adorned in the party colour of saffron, with party workers dancing and distributing sweets. “Development wins, good governance triumphs,” Modi wrote on X.
Jana Shakti is paramount!
Development wins, good governance triumphs.
I bow to my dear sisters and brothers of Delhi for this resounding and historic mandate to @BJP4India. We are humbled and honoured to receive these blessings.
It is our guarantee that we will leave no…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 8, 2025
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In the 70-seat assembly in Delhi, the BJP had won 48 seats. The AAP tally went from the 63 seats it won in the 2020 election to 22 seats.
“What once started as a people’s movement had now fizzled into a mere political party,” said Neelanjan Sircar, a senior fellow at the Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research (CPR), referring to the AAP. “Kejriwal is perhaps just a politician now and once that shine wears off, the core voters’ affiliation is weakened.”
Delhi, where more than 33 mill …