Delhi Elections 2025: Can BJP breach AAP citadel? Capital to decide tomorrow

Delhi Election 2025: Voting will begin at 7 AM on Wednesday, February 5. (PTI)

As many as 1.56 crore voters of Delhi will on Wednesday step out to decide the fate of a total of 699 candidates in fray from 70 Assembly seats in Delhi. Voting for the Delhi Assembly elections will begin at 7 AM on February 5 and conclude at 6 PM.

At stake are the political fortunes of three major parties -- the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress. While the AAP has been in power in Delhi for the past 10 years, the BJP is hopeful of a comeback after a gap of 27 years. The Congress, which currently has no representation in the Assembly or the Lok Sabha from Delhi, is eying a return to its days of glory before Arvind Kejriwal's AAP swept the Delhi polls and displaced it from power.

Delhi has seen several heated developments since the last election, including the arrest and incarceration of Kejriwal as Delhi CM, Manish Sisodia as the Deputy CM along with other members of the Delhi Cabinet. The BJP has used the graft charges against AAP's top leaders to claim that the party that came to power on the pedestal of honest governance had turned into "the most corrupt party.

The AAP, on the other hand, has claimed that the BJP has been against the pro-people welfare measures rolled out by its government and has deliberately targeted its leaders as part of a political conspiracy.

The run-up to the election day saw intense campaigning by all major stakeholders that saw top guns like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, among others line up a slew of promises and commitments in their bid to woo the electorate. The campaigning for the Delhi elections drew to a close on Monday, February 3, at 5 PM.

The final day of campaigning saw Kejriwal and Delhi Chief Minister Atishi address three rallies, including one in Kalkaji, to mobilise supporters. The AAP convener, meanwhile, claimed that his party will win at least 55 seats in the 70-member assembly. The AAP bagged 62 seats in 2020, marginally lower than the 67 seats it secured in the 2015 elections.

The BJP's campaign, on the other hand, saw 22 roadshows by senior leaders including Home Minister Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP President JP Nadda, and several BJP chief ministers. Over the past wo elections, the BJP has managed to maintain its vote share but has failed to make any impact in terms of the number of seats.

The Congress, on the other hand, is in a battle to regain some foothold in the capital after negligible outings in the previous two polls. Having whole-heartedly entered the campaign fray later than the others, intensified its efforts with Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi leading separate roadshows in Kalkaji and Kasturba Nagar. After losing both its vote share and seats over the past two decades, Congress is now focussed on regaining its lost footing in the capital.

As per the Election Commission, Delhi has 1.56 crore voters eligible to cast their ballots across 13,766 polling stations. Among them, 83.76 lakh are men, 72.36 lakh are women, and 1,267 are third-gender voters.

The results of the Delhi Assembly elections will be declared on February 8 and the term of the current Assembly ends on February 23.