BJP's over 26 years of exile is now over as it is now in power in the National capital- Delhi. February 8. 2025 is one of the historic dates for the Indian politics as a major landscape change is witnessed today. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lost Delhi, but what came as a shock was defeat of its convener Arvind Kejriwal and his number 2- Manish Sisodia. Their defeat signals a major shift in voters' sentiments towards the party.
AAP stalwarts who lost in Delhi polls 2025
Arvind Kejriwal: The national convener of the AAP and former Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal lost to BJP's Parvesh Verma in New Delhi, by over 4,000 votes. It is a spectacular achievement by Verma, who is a two-time West Delhi MP and the son of former BJP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma.
Manish Sisodia: Delhi's former Deputy Chief Minister and one of the most prominent leaders in AAP, Sisodia has lost to BJP's Tarvinder Singh Marwah in Jangpura. A three-time MLA from east Delhi's Patparganj, had switched to Jangpura for this election. Marwah won the Jangpura seat by securing 38,859 votes. Notabky, the winning margin is only of 675 votes.
Satyendar Jain, who had been arrested in 2022 in a money laundering case, lost in the Shakur Basti constituency. BJP candidate Karnail Singh won the election. According to the Election Commission website, Karnail Singh won with 20998 votes margin. Singh secured 56,869 votes but Satyendar Jain bagged 35871 votes.
Durgesh Pathak: One of the most prominent leaders in AAP, Durgesh Pathak lost by 1231 votes in the Delhi assembly election from Rajendra Nagar seat. He was defeated by Umang Bajaj from Bhartiya Janta Party who got 46,671 votes. He won the seat during the 2022 by-election and was re-nominated this time.
Saurabh Bharadwaj: Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Health Minister in the current government, Saurabh Bharadwaj, lost the Greater Kailash Assembly seat to BJP's Shikha Roy.
Somnath Bharti's three-time winning streak broke this time. He lost the Malviya Nagar seat by almost 2100 votes. He was defeated by BJP’s Satish Upadhyay, who got 39,564 votes. Somnath Bharti has held the seat since first winning it in 2013.
Along with the aforementioned names, some other big leaders of AAP including Raghuvinder Shokeen, Bandana Kumari, Akhilesh Pati Tripathi, among other also lost their seats in the Delhi Assembly elections 2025.