♕The Congress failed to gain any seats in the Delhi assembly election for the third time in a row shadowing the former CM Sheila Dikshit's legacy and the stronghold of the party in several constituencies of the national capital.
๊Congress' only consolation for this polls is their slight improvement in the party's vote share, with leaders proclaiming that they would bounce back and form a government in the national capital in 2030.
♛Congress and Aam Aadmi Party although part of India Bloc, went solo in this election and over the recent months their rivalry was quite clear to the voters. Another India bloc leader National Conference leader and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah condemning AAP and Congress' loss at the national capital, blamed the internal fights in the alliance and said, "Aur lado aapas mein!!! (Keep on fighting each other)."
ౠThe BJP returned to power in Delhi on Saturday after more than 26 years, sweeping away the AAP as they won 48 seats in the 70-seat assembly.
Congress' Performance In 2025 Delhi Elections
The Congress 🤡increased its vote share from 4.26 per cent in 2020 to over six per cent in 2025 but it failed to win even a single seat for third consecutive term.
🌼The Congress played a spoiler for the AAP which suffered heavily in Scheduled Caste and Muslim-dominated segments where Congress made minor gains at AAP's cost and BJP's advantage.
𝔍The party polled 6.39 per cent of the valid votes as against 4.3 per cent in the 2020 assembly polls, massively denting its INDIA bloc partner Aam Aadmi Party across segments.
According to the latest data provided by ECI, Congress received more votes than the wining margin in 14 constituencies where BJP emerged victorious defeating AAP candidates, including former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia.
✱These 14 seats are Timarpur, Badli, Nangloi Jat, Madipur, Rajender Nagar, New Delhi, Jangpura, Kasturba Nagar, Malviya Nagar, Mehrauli, Chhatarpur, Sangam Vihar, Greater Kailash, and Trilokpuri.
🎃BJP's Parvesh Verma, former Delhi CM Sahib Singh Verma's son, defeated Kejriwal from the New Delhi constituency. Kejriwal lost the seat by 4,089 votes at the constituency, where Sandeep Dikshit, son of another former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, finished a distant third with 4,568 votes, higher than the victory margin.
ꦿSimilarly in Jangpura, Sisodia lost to BJP's Tarvinder Singh Marwah by just 675 votes where Congress' Farhad Suri received 7,350 votes. Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj was defeated by BJP's Shikha Roy in Greater Kailash by 3,188 votes with Congress' candidate Garvit Singhvi getting 6,711 votes.
ꦬCongress, however, also received more votes than margin victory at seven seats where AAP emerged victorious. These seats included Kalkaji, where Delhi chief minister Atishi won defeating her nearest rival BJP's Ramesh Bidhuri.
ꦯA majority of Congress candidates lost their deposits and only three of them managed to save them. These include Abhishek Dutt from Kasturba Nagar, who was the only Congress leader to finish second, Rohit Choudhary from Nangloi Jat and Devendra Yadav from Badli.
💯There are three seats -- Mehrauli, Okhla, and Mustafabad -- where Congress is not even in top three.
Also Read | What Swept Arvind Kejriwal Out Of Delhi?
Congress Reacts To Delhi Elections Loss
♍Congress conceding its defeat in all the seats it contested, said that it humbly accepts the decision of the people and asserted that the election result is not a vindication of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies but a referendum on Arvind Kejriwal and AAP.
💎Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the party will continue to raise the issues of pollution, Yamuna cleaning, electricity, roads, water and development in Delhi and will remain connected with the public.
🔯"In the Delhi Assembly elections, the Congress party created an atmosphere against the government in public interest, but the people did not give us the mandate we expected. We accept the decision of the people," Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.
🧸"Every Congress leader and worker worked unitedly under adverse circumstances, but more hard work and struggle is still required," he said.
ꩲCongress leader Rahul Gandhi said he humbly accepts the mandate of Delhi as he thanked party workers and voters.
⛄In a post on X, he said the fight for the progress of Delhi and against pollution, price rise and corruption will continue.
🥀"We humbly accept the mandate of Delhi. Heartfelt thanks to all the Congress workers of the state for their dedication and all the voters for their support," he said in his post in Hindi.
𒅌"This fight for the progress of Delhi and the rights of Delhiites, against pollution, price rise and corruption will continue," Gandhi said.
ꦐCongress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the assembly election results reflected nothing more than a referendum on Kejriwal and AAP.
ꦫ"After all, at the height of the prime minister's popularity in 2015 and 2020, AAP had won decisively in Delhi. This shows rather than being a vindication of the policies of the prime minister, this vote is a rejection of Arvind Kejriwal's politics of deceit, deception, and vastly exaggerated claims of achievement," he said in a post on X.
𒊎The Congress took the lead in highlighting the various scams that occurred under Kejriwal and the voters pronounced their judgement on his 12 years of "misrule", he said.
Congress' Journey In Delhi's Political Landscape So Far And Where Is It Headed to?
ꦐCongress' Sheila Dikshit was the chief minister of Delhi for three terms. Today, Dikshit's bastion Badli saw lead on a few of the counting rounds this morning but the seat was soon won by BJP's Aahir Deepak Chaudharyy
ꦐHer son Sandeep Dikshit finished third in New Delhi segment where BJP's Parvesh Sahib Verma defeated AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal by over 3000 votes. While Verma polled 25057 votes and Kejriwal 22057, Dikshit gathered just 3873, in a shock culmination of the Sheila Dikshit legacy.
🍃Congress heavyweights for this elections included state unit chief Devender Yadav who ended up third in Badli, Mahila Congress president Alka Lamba also finished third in Kalkaji where Chief Minister Atishi won; former minister Haroon Yusuf was third as well in Ballimaran which he represented five times between 1993 to 2013.
ꦕCongress scripted the same story of losses everywhere with only one tiny consolation of a 2.1 per cent improvement in vote share over 2020.
🃏The Congress vote share fell from 40.31 per cent in 2008 (the last time Congress formed a government in Delhi) to 24.55 per cent in 2013, 9.7 per cent in 2015 and 4.3 per cent in 2020.
𓆏The decline of Congress and its tendency to disrupt could affect the unity of the already-weak INDIA bloc, whose members have often disagreed on key issues and election strategies.
🍌Tensions between the partners may become more noticeable in the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar. Congress' poor performance in Delhi, following similar results in Haryana and Maharashtra, will further weaken its position as a leading force in the Opposition bloc.
♔Even though Congress and AAP had tied up for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana, they decided to go it alone in Delhi.
▨The Congress for its part woke up late in Delhi fielding candidates in all 70 seats but primarily focussing on 18 seats where it didn't win but managed to affect the AAP.
ꦿRahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also launched a spirited campaign but failed to make any impact.
𝓀The dismal show under Rahul Gandhi as lead campaigner is bound to further raise question marks on his ability to deliver at the hustings with the BJP likely to sharpen its attack on Congress as a dynastic party focussed on one family.
🅰The Congress meanwhile appears determined to go it alone from here on and leaders say it may have suffered in Delhi but the impact of Delhi battle will be felt in Punjab in 2027 where, they say, Congress would be the principal beneficiary of disaffection towards the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP regime.
💦According to PTI, Congress leaders feel that it is a long and uphill battle from now as the party could manage to poll around 5.8 lakh votes, a bit higher than 3.95 votes polls in 2020, but far from 8.67 lakh votes in 2015 and 1.93 crore votes in 2013 when it won 8 seats.
🦋The Congress had polled 2.49 crore votes in 2008 when it formed a government winning 43 seats.
