Delhi Assembly Election 2025

The first assembly elections in Delhi were held in 1952. At the time there were 48 seats for which elections were fought.

The first assembly election in the then state of Delhi was dominated by the Indian Congress Party (INC) which emerged as the single largest party in the election. Chaudhary Brahm Prakash of the Congress Party became the first Chief Minister of Delhi.

The Congress swept the elections completely winning 39 seats out of 48, and securing more than 50% of the total votes casted in the entire assembly election. The closest competition to the Congress was the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which managed to win 5 seats with 21.8% vote share.

Jhanday Walan, Kucha Chelan, Deputy Ganj, and Manak Pura were among the 9 regions where the Congress could not win.

On November 1, 1956, through the States Reorganization Act of 1956, Delhi was made into a Union territory and the Legislative assembly was abolished. The next assembly elections were then held in 1983, after the union territory was declared as the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

With the term of the current legislative assembly of Delhi ending on 23rd February, 2025, the dates for the 2025 assembly elections have been announced by the Election Commission of India. The elections in Delhi will be held on February 5, 2025 and the votes casted will be counted on the 8th of February.

The model code of conduct will be implemented in Delhi following this announcement by the Election Commission, and will remain in place till the end of the elections.

Such a process is very similar to how the elections were carried out in the previous assembly elections as well, which were held on 8th February 2020, and the counting was done on 11th February.

The ECI has also shared numbers about voters, informing that Delhi has 1.55 crore eligible voters, including 71.74 lakh women along 2 lakh first time voters.

The elections will be carried out in a single phase format and has deliberately been kept on a Wednesday, so that more people can come to vote, in an attempt to increase the voter turnout which saw a drop in the previous assembly elections.

The previous Delhi assembly elections were held on the 8th of February 2020, and the counting of votes happened on the 11th of February. The results were announced on the same day as the counting.

The 2020 assembly elections saw the victory of the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP over its competitors, winning 62 seats and dominating the elections. The party achieved a huge success with senior ministers like Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Atishi, and Raghav Chadha winning from their respective constituencies.

The party with the second most seats was the BJP, with a total of 8 seats. The BJP managed to win the seats in the Rohini, Vishwas Nagar, Laxmi Nagar and Gandhi Nagar constituencies among 4 others.

The voter turnout however took a dip in the 2020 assembly elections in the national capital, with the percentage coming down from 67.12% to 62/59%.

The 2020 Delhi assembly elections were a largely bipolar result, with the only two parties securing seats being the AAP and the BJP. It was the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP that really flourished in the elections, winning an overwhelming majority of the seats in the elections, with their tally as high as 62 out of the 70 available seats.

The BJP managed to win 8 seats, in areas such as Rohini, Vishwas Nagar, Laxmi Nagar and Gandhi Nagar among 4 more constituencies.

A big surprise was the Congress party's humiliating defeat. The party which once dominated elections in the national capital, was left without a single seat to their name. The Congress managed to gather less than 5% of the total votes as well and were left in the mud.

Air quality remains the chief complaint of the citizens of Delhi, with heavy pollution causing the AQI to reach levels of 400+, into the hazardous categories. Not enough steps have been taken by those in power and the consequences have been detrimental.

The lack of responsibility for maintaining the Yamuna river has also been a cause of resentment and concern. There have been many campaigns by the citizens of the capital to clean the river, which no one has taken the responsibility of maintaining, an inaction not appreciated by the people of Delhi.

Safe drinking water is also scarce in many regions, leading to waterborne diseases spreading in those areas.

The party in power - The AAP - has not been able to find a solution for the water problems of the city along with a solution to maintain the Yamuna river, but is making a promise to do so in the next 5 years. Opposition parties such as the BJP and the Congress have cornered the ruling party calling out its claims as false promises and being unfaithful to its citizens.

Women's safety too remains a major issue in the capital. There has been a growing demand for stricter laws for crimes against women and a safer environment for women.

Cleanliness has also not seen much improvement and the people of Delhi have made their demand for a cleaner Delhi known to those seeking to be in power. Rallies have also been staged for the same.

Key promises of the Aam Aadmi Party - the current party in power - involve the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana, which would provide every woman from a family with less than 3 lakh annual income a monthly stipend of Rs 2100.

The party has also promised free electricity upto 200 units a month, and a 50% subsidy after 200 units.

Catering to the senior citizens, the party has promised the Sanjeevani Yojana promising free healthcare in both public and private hospitals, as well as covering all medical expenses and costs for surgeries.

Congress on the other hand, has adopted a similar promise of providing women with a monthly stipend of Rs 2500, matching AAP's Rs2100 promise.

BJP meanwhile has made promises of working for the people and has a focus on pointing out the hypocrisies of the other parties with remarks such as the Sheeshmahal remark on Arvind Kejriwal.

They have also targeted both the parties as being unfaithful to their citizens and making false promises they have no intention of upkeeping.