Delhi assembly polls: BJP takes early lead as counting of votes begins
Most exit polls showed the BJP was set to return to power after 27 years.
The counting of around 9.5 million votes polled across 13,766 polling booths in the Delhi assembly elections on February 5 began 8am on Saturday with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) taking an early lead. The BJP was ahead on 40 of the 70 seats and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) 28 at 9am.
Most exit polls showed the BJP was set to return to power after 27 years.
The votes were being counted at 19 counting centres under security arrangements. Only authorised personnel were allowed inside the centres where the use of mobile phones has been prohibited.
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The Delhi polls were the first major electoral exercise in 2025. It was the most closely fought election in the Capital with national implications. Delhi has had an outsized importance in national politics as the Capital and diversity reflecting broader national demographics.
As many as 699 candidates are in the fray. The AAP, which swept the last polls by winning 62 of 70 seats, faced corruption charges and sought to focus on a welfare plank. It offered cash hand-outs to poor women to free treatment for all senior citizens to blunt anti-incumbency. The AAP also dropped nearly a third of its lawmakers.
The BJP, which bagged eight seats in 2020, hoped to wrest power banking on anti-incumbency and middle-class anger. The BJP failed to breach double digits in the last two assembly elections even as it won all seven parliamentary seats in Delhi.
The AAP government and the lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena have been at loggerheads over the last five years. The acrimony has derailed governance even as the Capital struggled with toxic air, crumbling infrastructure, rising crime, etc.
The counting commenced a day after an Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) team visited AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal's residence after he alleged BJP leaders were attempting to bribe and poach AAP candidates as part of "Operation Lotus".
Saxena ordered a probe after BJP leader Vishnu Mittal wrote a letter demanding an investigation into Kejriwal's charges allegations. An ACB notice asked Kejriwal for evidence in support of the claims.
The AAP called the ACB's moves politically motivated and designed to intimidate the party. ACB warned of potential legal action and asked Kejriwal to explain why those spreading such allegations should not be prosecuted for creating "panic and unrest".
AAP claimed 16 of its candidates have received calls offering ₹15 crore each and ministerial positions if they switch to BJP.
