With the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) poised to lose the Delhi Assembly elections after winning there thrice consecutively, and the BJP set to comfortably win, some INDIA bloc leaders lamented that the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party should have fought the polls together against the BJP.
Delhi Assembly election results 2025: Follow LIVE updates
According to data from the Election Commission of India at 12.55 p.m., the BJP and the AAP both won in one seat while the BJP was leading in 46 and the AAP in 22.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday (February 8, 2025) weighed in on the Delhi Election trends, saying that the early results show a sharp competition between the BJP and the opposition parties.
Mr. Raut said that if the Congress and AAP had allied, the outcome might have been very different. He emphasised that both the Congress and AAP have the same political opponent — the BJP -— but unfortunately they chose to fight individually rather than join forces.
“The early trends show a sharp competition. Had Congress and AAP been together, the results may have been different… The political opponent of AAP and Congress is BJP. Both of them fought to keep BJP from coming to power, but they fought individually. If they had been together then BJP’s defeat must have been confirmed in the first hour (of counting),” said Mr. Raut.
Also Read | Delhi 2025 Assembly elections: How are the turncoats faring?
He also made serious allegations against the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the ruling BJP-led NDA government in the Centre. Mr. Raut claimed that the EC has been turning a blind eye to serious concerns, including voter list fraud and a new “Maharashtra pattern” that’s been implemented in Delhi.
Speaking to media, Mr. Raut said, “We held a press conference to discuss the attitude of the Election Commission and the government regarding the elections. How fraud is happening in the voter list and how this new Maharashtra pattern has been created. I also said that the Maharashtra pattern has been implemented in Delhi as well.”
The Shiv Sena leader then went on to suggest a larger conspiracy to influence the Delhi elections. “The Prime Minister was in Delhi for 10 years but could not win Delhi. His last wish may be that he should win Delhi while I am in politics. So, efforts are being made to win Delhi by going to any extent,” he claimed.
Also Read | Delhi assembly election results 2025 in charts: BJP ahead in trends; Atishi, Kejriwal, and other key candidate results
Mr. Raut also accused the BJP of using forced tactics to sway votes. “You think people are voting for BJP, nobody wants to vote for BJP, this is forced voting,” he said, calling into question the legitimacy of Assembly elections in Delhi.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also made similar remarks on the AAP and the Congress fighting together.
Mr. Abdullah, a senior leader of the National Conference, which is also part of the INDIA bloc, in a post on X, remarked, “fight among yourselves”.
The AAP and the Congress decided to contest the Assembly polls separately despite contesting the 2024 general elections together. The AAP contested from four seats and the Congress from three, however, the BJP won all seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi. Immediately after the Lok Sabha election results, the AAP declared that it will contest the Delhi Assembly polls alone and the alliance with Congress was only for the general elections.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) — both parties are part of INDIA bloc — also expressed strong disappointment and said the differences in the INDIA bloc paved way for the BJP’s victory.
While the CPI(M) directly accused the Congress for the BJP’s victory, the IUML, however, opted not to directly criticise the grand-old party but made it clear that if INDIA partners fought the election unitedly, they could have successfully resisted the BJP’s surge.
Senior CPI(M) leader and the convenor of the ruling LDF in Kerala, T.P. Ramakrishnan alleged that the Congress didn’t support well for the effective functioning of the INDIA bloc.
“There was no support from the side of the Congress. If the party had taken the initiative, the alliance could have functioned more effectively. But, the grand old party didn’t fulfill their responsibility,” he said.
He said the presence of the Left is weak in a city like Delhi and if anyone who could do something there it was the Congress.
While reacting to the BJP’s victory in the Delhi polls, veteran IUML leader P.K. Kunhalikutty said it would not have happened if the partners in the INDIA stood united.
He said that the BJP has no strong vote base to come to power in any Indian State and it used to survive by making use of the differences among secular parties.
The difference in the INDIA block, a coalition of secular parties, helped the saffron party in the Delhi polls also, he said.
If everyone in the alliance stood together, the result would have been different, Mr. Kunhalikutty said.
When asked about whether it was the Congress which was the reason for the lack of unity in the opposition alliance, the IUML veteran, however, said there was no point in blaming a single party for the poll outcome.
“Everyone in the alliance should discuss this matter and evaluate the poll results,” he said, adding that immediate steps should be taken not to repeat such things in future.
The circumstances in each State is different and the INDIA block should be able to overcome such differences to protect the Constitution of the country, Mr. Kunhalikutty added.
(With Agency inputs)
Published – February 08, 2025 01:46 pm IST