Task Cut Out for the BJP to Clear Civic Morass in the City

BJP has won massively in Delhi. Its tally of 48 seats betters its 1993 performance when it won 47 seats.

- Siddharth Mishra Author and president, Centre for Reforms, Development & Justice

Delhi since then has changed enormously, therefore the factors contributing to BJP's victory would be much different than what led it to come to power in 1993.

For someone who has followed Delhi politics since 1993, there were few takeaways on factors contributing to BJP's massive mandate in 2025. First, as I had mentioned in my column last week, BJP needed the Baniyas and Punjabis to vote for them. There are 35 seats dominated by the combined votes of these two communities, it won on 29.

Now this marked a massive difference from the 2015 and 2020 polls, when the saffron party, which saw these two communities as its natural voters, could win just two out of these 35 seats. Once the support of Punjabi and the Baniya voters, who voted for the BJP in the consecutive Lok Sabha elections but not in Vidhan Sabha, was ensured, moving towards not just the halfway mark of 35 but crossing it with wide margin was going to be easy.