Kejriwal concedes defeat: 'Accept mandate with folded hands'

Arvind Kejriwal

After the BJP  outmatched his party in the fiercely fought Delhi assembly election, Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said he accepted people's mandate.

"We accept the mandate of the people with great humility. I congratulate the BJP for this victory and I hope they will fulfil all the promises for which people have voted them," said Kejriwal in a video released on X.

After the 14 rounds of counting BJP's Parvesh Singh Verma defeated Kejriwal by 4,089 votes in the New Delhi constituency.

"…We did not come into politics for power; we see politics as a medium to serve the people, and we will continue to do so. I also extend my heartfelt gratitude to all AAP workers who worked tirelessly and fought a remarkable election,” Kejriwal said.

#WATCH | On #DelhiElection2025, AAP national convener and former Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal, "We accept the mandate of the people with great humility. I congratulate the BJP for this victory and I hope they will fulfil all the promises for which people have voted them. We have pic.twitter.com/VZOwLS8OVH
ANI (@ANI) February 8, 2025

In 2020, Kejriwal emerged victorious by  defeating BJP’s Sunil Kumar Yadav by a margin of 21,697 votes. The New Delhi Assembly constituency is part of the larger New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, where BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj secured a decisive victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, defeating AAP’s Somnath Bharti by a margin of 78,370 votes. In the 2015 Assembly elections in Delhi, Kejriwal secured a victory defeating Nupur Sharma of the BJP and Kran Walia of the Congress.