Legislative Assembly elections were held in Delhi on 5 February 2025 to elect all 70 members of the Delhi Legislative Assembly. The counting of votes and declaration of results took place on 8 February 2025.
The Bharatiya Janata Party won in 48 out of 70 seats, thus returning to power in Delhi after 27 years. Rekha Gupta, the MLA from Shalimar Bagh, took oath as the Chief Minister on 20 February 2025.
Background The previous Delhi Legislative Assembly elections were held in February 2020, resulting in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) forming the state government. Arvind Kejriwal assumed the post of Chief Minister for a third consecutive term.
Arrest of Arvind Kejriwal
After skipping nine summons from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested on 21 March 2024 by the ED after the Delhi High Court rejected his anticipatory bail in connection with the Delhi liquor policy money laundering case. This made him the first sitting chief minister of India to be arrested (all others arrested before him had resigned from their post before being arrested). The opposition alliance called it a fabricated case and "match-fixing" before the 2024 general elections by the Bharatiya Janata Party led union government. The Delhi High Court dismissed Kejriwal's petition against his arrest and all his bail requests. The Supreme Court ultimately granted him interim bail from 10 May 2024 to 1 June 2024 on account of campaigning for the elections.
Following the end of his interim bail and failure to extend it on medical grounds, Kejriwal surrendered at Tihar Jail on 2 June. He was then sent to judicial custody until 5 June 2024. A Delhi court denied the plea filed by Kejriwal seeking a seven-day interim bail and extended judicial custody until 19 June and subsequently till 3 July 2024. On 20 June 2024 Kejriwal was granted bail by the trial court on a bail bond of 100,000 INR. However, his bail was put on hold before his release as ED appealed against it in the Delhi High Court. Kejriwal was then questioned for 3 days by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and arrested on 26 June 2024 from Tihar Jail in the same case. Subsequently, he was sent to judicial custody till 12 July.
On 12 July 2024, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Kejriwal in money laundering case related to the alleged excise policy scam. However, he remained in jail due to the CBI arrest made in the previous month. On 5 September 2024, the Supreme court reserved an order on his bail in the CBI case. The reserved order was pronounced by the SC on 13 September 2024, granting him bail and ultimately leading to his release from Tihar Jail after five months. However he served in prison for more than 5 months.
On 21 September 2024, Kejriwal resigned after being jailed on corruption charges, and Atishi Marlena was sworn in as the Chief Minister. The tenure of the 7th Delhi Assembly is set to conclude on 15 February 2025. Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia had previously resigned on 28 February 2023 due to his arrest on corruption charges. He served 17 months in jail until his release on bail on 9 August 2024. Minister Satyendra Kumar Jain also resigned due to corruption charges.
Schedule Election Commission of India announced the schedule for the Delhi Legislative Assembly election on 7 January 2025.
Poll event Schedule Notification date 10 January 2025 Last date for filing nomination 17 January 2025 Scrutiny of nomination 18 January 2025 Last date for withdrawal of nomination 20 January 2025 Date of poll 5 February 2025 Date of counting of votes 8 February 2025Date before which election shall be completed10 February 2025
Issues
Local Governance & Infrastructure Issues Voters in Delhi expressed deep frustration over the failure to clean the Yamuna River a promise made by the AAP government in 2020 that remained unfulfilled. The sanitation and waste management crisis further fueled discontent, with over 90% of respondents in the Lokniti-CSDS Survey expressing dissatisfaction with the overall cleanliness of the city. Additionally, air pollution and the shortage of clean drinking water emerged as major concerns, with more than 80% of voters highlighting these as pressing issues. These factors collectively contributed to the electorate's growing disillusionment with the AAP government's performance on environmental and civic infrastructure matters.
Corruption Allegations & Leadership Credibility According to the Lokniti-CSDS Survey, nearly two-thirds of respondents perceived the AAP government as corrupt, with 28% categorizing it as highly corrupt. Two specific controversies played a significant role in shaping public perception regarding corruption within the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. The first was the alleged irregularities in the liquor policy, while the second centered on the controversial expenditures on the Chief Minister's residence, which the BJP referred to as 'Sheesh Mahal'. Both issues were prominently highlighted in the BJP's anti-corruption campaign against AAP, contributing to the party's declining credibility and electoral setbacks. Additionally, several key AAP leaders suffered electoral defeats, reflecting growing public disillusionment with the party's governance and its ability to deliver on its promises.
Parties and alliances Party/Alliance FlagSymbolLeaderSeats contested Aam Aadmi Party Arvind Kejriwal70 Rowspan="3"NDA Bharatiya Janata Party Rekha Gupta68Janata Dal (United)Shailendra Kumar1Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) Deepak Tanwar1 Indian National Congress Devender Yadav 70Bahujan Samaj Party68Nationalist Congress Party 17 Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) 14All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen Shoaib Jamei 2
Candidates
DistrictConstituency AAP NDA INCNorth Delhi1NarelaSharad ChauhanRaj Karan KhatriAruna KumariCentral Delhi2 BurariSanjeev JhaShailendra Kumar Mangesh Tyagi3 TimarpurSurinder Pal Singh (Bittoo)Surya Prakash KhatriLokendra ChaudharyNorth Delhi4 Adarsh NagarMukesh GoelRaj Kumar BhatiaShivank Singhal5 BadliAjesh YadavDeepak ChaudharyDevender YadavNorth West Delhi6 RithalaMohinder GoyalKulwant RanaSushant MishraNorth Delhi7 Bawana (SC)Jai BhagwanRavinder Indraj Singh Surender KumarNorth West Delhi8 MundkaJasbir KaralaGajender Drall Dharam Pal Lakda9KirariAnil Jha VatsBajrang ShuklaRajesh Gupta10Sultanpur Majra (SC)Mukesh Kumar AhlawatKaram Singh Karma Jai KishanWest Delhi11Nangloi JatRaghuvinder ShokeenManoj Kumar ShokeenRohit ChaudharyNorth West Delhi12Mangolpuri (SC)Rakesh JatavRaj Kumar ChauhanHanuman Chauhan North Delhi13RohiniPradeep MittalVijender GuptaSumesh GuptaNorth West Delhi14 Shalimar BaghBandana KumariRekha GuptaPraveen JainNorth Delhi15 Shakur BastiSatyendra Kumar JainKarnail SinghSatish LuthraNorth West Delhi16 Tri NagarPreeti TomarTilak Ram GuptaSatendra Sharma North Delhi17 Wazirpur Rajesh GuptaPoonam Sharma Ragini Nayak18 Model TownAkhilesh Pati TripathiAshok GoelKunwar Karan SinghCentral Delhi19 Sadar BazarSom DuttManoj Kumar JindalAnil Bhardwaj20 Chandni ChowkPunardeep Singh SawhneySatish JainMudit Agarwal21 Matia MahalAaley Mohammad IqbalDeepti IndoraAsim Ahmed Khan22 BallimaranImran HussainKamal BagriHaroon Yusuf23 Karol Bagh (SC)Vishesh RaviDushyant Kumar GautamRahul DhanakNew Delhi24 Patel Nagar (SC)Pravesh RatnRaaj Kumar AnandKrishna TirathWest Delhi25 Moti NagarShiv Charan GoelHarish KhuranaRajender Namdhari 26Madipur (SC)Rakhi BirlaKailash Gangwal Jai Prakash Panwar27 Rajouri GardenDhanwati ChandelaManjinder Singh SirsaDharmpal Chandila28 Hari NagarSurinder SetiaShyam SharmaPrem Sharma29 Tilak NagarJarnail SinghShweta SainiPS Bawa30 JanakpuriPravin KumarAshish SoodHarbani KaurSouth West Delhi31 VikaspuriMahinder YadavDr. Pankaj Kumar SinghJitender Solanki32 Uttam NagarPooja Naresh BalyanPawan SharmaMukesh Sharma33 DwarkaVinay MishraParduymn RajputAdarsh Shastri34 MatialaSumesh ShokeenSandeep SehrawatRaghuvinder Shokeen35 NajafgarhTarun YadavNeelam Pahalwan Sushma Yadav36 BijwasanSurender BharadwajKailash GahlotDevinder Sehrawat37PalamJoginder SolankiKuldeep SolankiMange RamNew Delhi38Delhi CantonmentVirender Singh KadianBhuvan Tanwar Pradeep Kumar Upmanyu 39Rajinder NagarDurgesh PathakUmang BajajVineet Yadav40New DelhiArvind KejriwalParvesh VermaSandeep DikshitSouth East Delhi41JangpuraManish SisodiaTarvinder Singh MarwahFarhad Suri42Kasturba NagarRamesh PehelwanNeeraj BasoyaAbhishek DuttSouth Delhi43Malviya NagarSomnath BhartiSatish UpadhyayJitendra Kumar KocharNew Delhi44R. K. PuramPramila TokasAnil Kumar SharmaVishesh TokasSouth Delhi45MehrauliMahender ChaudharyGajender YadavPushpa Singh46ChhatarpurBrahm Singh TanwarKartar Singh TanwarRajinder Tanwar47Deoli (SC)Prem Kumar ChauhanDeepak Tanwar Rajesh Chauhan48Ambedkar Nagar (SC)Ajay DuttKhushiram ChunarJay PrakashSouth East Delhi49Sangam ViharDinesh MohaniyaChandan Kumar ChaudharyHarsh Chaudhary New Delhi50Greater KailashSaurabh BhardwajShikha RaiGravit SinghviSouth East Delhi51KalkajiAtishi MarlenaRamesh BidhuriAlka Lamba52TughlakabadSahi RamRohtas BidhuriVirender Bidhuri53BadarpurRam Singh NetajiNarayan Dutt SharmaArjun Bhadana54OkhlaAmanatullah KhanManish Chaudhary Ariba KhanEast Delhi55Trilokpuri (SC)Anjana ParchaRavikant UjjainAmardeep56Kondli (SC)Kuldeep KumarPriyanka GautamAkshay Kumar 57PatparganjAvadh OjhaRavinder Singh NegiAnil Chaudhary58Laxmi NagarB.B. TyagiAbhay VermaSumit Sharma Shahdara59Vishwas NagarDeepak SinglaOm Prakash SharmaRajiv ChaudharyEast Delhi60Krishna NagarVikas BaggaDr. Anil GoyalGurcharan Singh Raju61Gandhi NagarNaveen ChaudharyArvinder Singh LovelyKamal AroraShahdara62ShahdaraJitender Singh ShuntySanjay GoyalJagat Singh63Seemapuri (SC)Veer Singh DhinganRinku KumariRajesh Lilothia64Rohtas NagarSarita SinghJitender MahajanSuresh Wali ChauhanNorth East Delhi65SeelampurChaudhary Zubair AhmadAnil GaurAbdul Rehman66GhondaGaurav SharmaAjay MahawarBheesham SharmaShahdara67BabarpurGopal RaiAnil VashishthaHaji Mohd Ishraq KhanNorth East Delhi68Gokalpur (SC)Surendra KumarPraveen Nimesh Ishwar Bagri69MustafabadAdil Ahmad KhanMohan Singh BishtAli Mahndi70Karawal NagarManoj TyagiKapil MishraP. K. Mishra
Campaigns Aam Aadmi Party The Aam Aadmi Party campaign was kickstarted by Arvind Kejriwal. As part of its campaign the party announced various schemes such as the Mahila Samman Yojana that would include providing monthly financial assistance of ₹2,100 to women and the Pujari Granthi Samman Yojana that would provide financial assistance of ₹18,000 to temple pujaris and granthis of gurudwaras.
Bharatiya Janata Party The opposition BJP started its campaign with the Parivartan Yatra, highlighting the corruption of the AAP government. Key issues used by the party includes controversy regarding Sheesh Mahal, liquor policy, and Yamuna river pollution. Later prime minister Narendra Modi officially launched the party campaign at a rally in Rohini, where he criticized the government on issues of water shortages, pollution etc. as well as calling the government an "Aapda" (transl. Disaster).
Manifesto
The BJP's election manifesto focused on welfare, governance, and anti-corruption measures, targeting women, senior citizens, and underprivileged communities. The manifesto promised to implement the Mahila Samridhi Yojana, providing ₹2,500 per month to women, along with ₹21,000 and six nutrition kits for pregnant women under the Matri Suraksha Vandana scheme.