Delhi Assembly Elections 2025: Bharadwaj turns emotional after poll defeat, says he took it in 'spirit of sportsmanship'

New Delhi: Outgoing Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj was overcome with emotion as he addressed his supporters in a choked voice, saying he has accepted defeat in the Assembly polls "in the spirit of sportsmanship".

At one point in his address, the AAP leader turned away from the microphone to compose himself. Struggling to hold back tears, he admitted that seeing his supporters emotional had deeply affected him.

Bharadwaj lost to BJP candidate Shikha Roy by a margin of 3,188 votes. Roy secured 49,594 votes, while Bharadwaj got 46,406. Congress' Garvit Singhvi finished a distant third with 6,711 votes.

The BJP registered a landslide victory in polls with 48 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly, while AAP -- which had won 62 assembly constituencies in 2020 and 67 in 2015 -- saw its tally plunge to 22. The Congress drew a blank for the third consecutive time.

A clip of Bharadwaj addressing his supporters has been widely circulated on social media. In it, the visibly emotional outgoing minister told his supporters that everyone worked very hard, and "I am extremely proud of all of you".

"I was taking it in the spirit of sportsmanship, but when I saw people crying, I became emotional too,” he added.

February 8 marked a major shift in the Greater Kailash constituency, where Bharadwaj had secured decisive victories in the 2015 and 2020 elections.

In 2020, he won by a margin of 16,809 votes, polling 60,372 votes against the BJP's Shikha Roy, who secured 43,563 votes. In 2015, he had won by 14,583 votes against the BJP's Rakesh Kumar Gullaiya.

The BJP is expected to stake its claim to power next week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns from a foreign visit.