Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets supporters upon his arrival at BJP headquarters, on the day of counting of votes for Delhi Assembly elections, in New Delhi, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. Union Minister and BJP National President J P Nadda is also seen.
Credit: PTI File Photo
The BJP has gone back to the drawing board in drafting its narratives for state Assembly elections after facing unexpected reverses in the Lok Sabha polls that were marked by a high-octane campaign to achieve a “400-plus” target.
For the Delhi polls too, the BJP, while matching the AAP sop by sop, pushed the development narrative with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the charge. This was in sharp contrast to the last two Assembly polls when the BJP unofficially projected state unit chiefs — Bhojpuri actor Manoj Tiwari in 2020 and Vijendra Gupta in 2015 — in its face-off against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal.
The BJP has also continued with a trend to continually shuffle its pack between the state Assemblies and Parliament. Those who were denied LS nominations were asked to contest Delhi Assembly polls, including giant killer Parvesh Verma who vanquished Kejriwal in the New Delhi seat. Ramesh Bidhuri, the former MP from South Delhi, gave a tough fight to Chief Minister Atishi but lost by a close margin.
To avoid counter-polarisation on religious lines, the BJP in Delhi tempered its pitch to avoid a redux of “goli maro saalon ko” (shoot the traitors) episode triggered by a speech from former Union minister Anurag Thakur during the protests against the Citizenship Act in 2020 elections. Party’s Karaval Nagar candidate Kapil Mishra, known for making incendiary speeches, also stuck to the prescribed talking heads.
The Delhi template of electioneering flows from the layered approach used by the saffron party in Haryana and Maharashtra, which is both hyper-local and centralised. The central message is articulated by the prime minister which is tailored to woo targeted voter groups, as were the budget announcements and sops unveiled just before the Delhi polls. The hyper-local campaign is generally done through social media, chat apps and door-to-door outreach.
In the past, despite doing well in the LS polls, the BJP has found the going tough against satraps, be it Siddaramaiah in Karnataka or Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal.
In Delhi too, the BJP had repeatedly failed to challenge Kejriwal in the Assembly elections, despite doing exceptionally well in the LS polls, winning all seven seats in the national capital since 2014.
As in Haryana, where it reversed the trends from the last LS polls to defeat the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress, the BJP has successfully warded off the challenge posed by powerful regional leaders in Delhi as well.
Delhi assembly elections 2025 results | Get all latest updates here
Delhi assembly elections 2025 results | Get constituency-wise details here
Delhi Assembly Election 2025 | The Delhi Assembly Elections saw a fierce contest between AAP and BJP, while Congress despite its best attempts failed to make a mark. The saffron party is all set to make a comeback in the national capital after almost three decades as AAP chief Kejriwal has accepted the people's verdict and looks to be part of a constructive opposition. Reactions from all quarters are pouring in as BJP celebrates its first electoral win in 2025, with Bihar polls slated to take place later this year. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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