BJP Wins Delhi, AAP Faces Setback; Panjab 2027 in Focus

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has lost the Delhi elections to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). With 48/70 seats, BJP has reclaimed power in Delhi after 27 years. The Delhi results also highlight a shift among Sikh voters in Delhi, with the BJP’s Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Tarwinder Singh Marwah among five Sikh candidates who won. Sirsa, was a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA but defected to BJP in 2017. He won from Rajouri Garden. Arvinder Singh Lovely, another former Indian National Congress (INC) Sikh candidate defected to BJP in 2024 and emerged victorious in Gandhi Nagar. For AAP’s Panjab government, the debacle raises alarm. AAP had prided itself on the same freebie-based model in both Delhi and Panjab, including subsidized electricity and partial job creation, but critics contend that repeated unfulfilled promises undercut the party’s image. Panjab BJP leaders claim it is ‘game over’ for AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal and say the fallout will resonate in Panjab’s Vidhan Sabha (State Legislative Assembly) election in 2027. BJP general secretary Anil Sarin says Panjabis have become frustrated with the three years of AAP governance. Senior leader Ravneet Singh Bittu quipped that CM Bhagwant Singh Mann should ‘start packing his bags.’ Panjab INC leaders sense a potential mid-term election, believing that Kejriwal may try to become CM in Panjab, possibly exploiting a vacant seat in Ludhiana. It must be noted that AAP’s win in Panjab in 2022 was less through its own efforts and more through the widespread disenchantment against the traditional parties SAD and INC and further fuelled by the Farmers Protest 1.0. With two years left until the next elections, AAP must urgently address law and order, corruption, and other governance shortfalls to retain public confidence and forestall the ripple effect of the Delhi defeat.