Delhi election result: Kejriwal, Sisodia lose as AAP gets face-saver in Atishi, Gopal Rai
The AAP, which ruled Delhi from 2013, has been reduced to fewer than 25 seats in the assembly election results announced on Saturday. AAP founder and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal lost the election to BJP's Parvesh Verma from the New Delhi assembly seat.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) suffered its worst electoral performance ever as it has been routed out of power in New Delhi. The AAP, which ruled Delhi from 2013, has been reduced to fewer than 25 seats in the assembly election results announced on Saturday.
This is a massive fall for AAP, which dominated the previous assembly with 62 MLAs in the 70-member house.
CREDIT: BCCL
Kejriwal loses to Parvesh Verma
Making matters worse for AAP are the high-profile losses it suffered on Saturday. AAP founder and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal lost the election to BJP's Parvesh Verma from the New Delhi assembly seat.
After the 12th round of counting, Verma led with 28,238 votes, while Kejriwal secured 24,449 votes. In third place was Congress candidate Sandeep Dikshit, the son of former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit.
Incidentally, it was against Sheila Dikshit that Kejriwal made his electoral debut.
Manish Sisodia loses in Jangpura
The bad news for AAP did not end with Kejriwal, as his trusted lieutenant and former Deputy CM of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, also lost. Sisodia, described as the brain behind AAP's education revolution, had shifted to the Jangpura seat from Patparganj, from where he had won the 2020 election.
CREDIT: BCCL
He lost the 2025 election to Tarvinder Singh Marwah of the BJP. Sisodia conceded defeat while he was trailing by 572 votes in the last round.
Several other high-profile candidates of AAP, including noted civil services coach Avadh Ojha, who was making his electoral debut, lost.
Chief Minister Atishi wins nail-biter
Some of the biggest names in AAP to have won the election are Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, who overcame a tough challenge from BJP's Ramesh Bidhuri in the Kalkaji seat.
CREDIT: BCCL
Gopal Rai wins
Another close confidant of Kejriwal to win re-election is Gopal Rai, who was also the Environment Minister of Delhi. Rai won the Babarpur seat, defeating BJP's Anil Kumar Vashisht.
CREDIT: BCCL
Why AAP lost
A slew of factors, including anti-incumbency, corruption allegations, a lack of leadership after the arrest of top leaders including Kejriwal, the failure to form an alliance with Congress and other INDIA-bloc parties, have been blamed for AAP's failure.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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