Congress’ Sandeep Dikshit lost New Delhi seat but still ‘defeated’ Arvind Kejriwal. Here’s how

Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s son, Sandeep Dikshit, suffered a heavy defeat in the 2025 assembly elections from the New Delhi seat.

However, the Congress leader still managed to ‘defeat’ Arvind Kejriwal.

Catch the live updates from the  Delhi Assembly elections here.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reclaimed power in Delhi after 27 years, ending the rule of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

In the New Delhi constituency, BJP leader Parvesh Verma emerged as the giant slayer, defeating Kejriwal. Dikshit finished third behind the two contenders.

So, how did Sandeep Dikshit still manage to defeat Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi?

We will answer this question:

How Sandeep Dikshit lost New Delhi but still ‘defeated’ Kejriwal

In the New Delhi constituency, BJP’s Parvesh Verma won by a margin of 4,089 votes. He received 30,088 votes, while Arvind Kejriwal got 25,999 votes.

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Meanwhile, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit received 4,568 votes.

What does this indicate?

Simply put, while Sandeep Dikshit finished third, he managed to cut into Kejriwal’s vote share. This ultimately helped BJP’s Parvesh Verma achieve a narrow victory.

Notably, Dikshit’s total votes exceed the winning margin in the constituency.

The lack of an alliance between AAP and Congress proved costly for both the parties.

If the two parties had come together, Dikshit’s votes could have potentially shifted to Kejriwal, which could have changed the final outcome.

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But that was not the case.

The result came full circle as Arvind Kejriwal , who had once risen to dominance by defeating Sheila Dikshit in the New Delhi seat, found himself losing the very same constituency after more than a decade.

कांग्रेस के शीर्ष नेतृत्व ने जो विश्वास मुझमे जताया और मौका दिया इस चुनाव में, मैं उनके प्रति आभार प्रकट करता हूँ@INCDelhi @INCIndia @RahulGandhi @kharge @priyankagandhi @devendrayadvinc

नई दिल्ली सीट से इस शर्मनाक हार के लिए मैं, और केवल मैं, व्यक्तिगत रूप से ज़िम्मेदार हूँ।…

— Sandeep Dikshit (@_SandeepDikshit) February 8, 2025

Sensing growing discontent against AAP, the Congress took an aggressive stance in the campaign. Both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra intensified their attacks on AAP in the final days, while Sandeep Dikshit’s presence in New Delhi further created concerns for Kejriwal.

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Back in the 2013 Delhi elections, riding the wave of the India Against Corruption movement, Kejriwal entered the political fray and took on veteran leader Sheila Dikshit. He defeated the three-term Chief Minister by over 21,000 votes, ending her political career and establishing himself as a giant slayer.

That election also marked the end of Congress rule in Delhi.

How Congress stole more votes than winning margin in 14 seats

In 14 constituencies where BJP defeated AAP, including seats contested by Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia, Congress was able to steal more votes than the victory margin.

AAP, which needed 36 seats for a majority, was restricted to 22, falling short by 14.

Despite increasing its vote share from 4.26% in 2020 to over 6% in 2025, Congress failed to win a single seat for the third consecutive election.

Apart from New Delhi, the other seats where Congress secured more votes than BJP’s victory margin include Timarpur, Badli, Nangloi Jat, Madipur, Rajender Nagar, Jangpura, Kasturba Nagar, Malviya Nagar, Mehrauli, Chhatarpur, Sangam Vihar, Greater Kailash, and Trilokpuri.

In Jangpura, Sisodia lost to BJP’s Tarvinder Singh Marwah by just 675 votes, while Congress candidate Farhad Suri got 7,350 votes.

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Similarly, in Greater Kailash, Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj was defeated by BJP’s Shikha Roy by 3,188 votes, while Congress’ Garvit Singhvi received 6,711 votes.

Congress also received more votes than the winning margin in seven constituencies where AAP emerged winner. This includes Kalkaji, where Delhi Chief Minister Atishi defeated BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri.

The grand old party secured a second-place finish only in Kasturba Nagar, where Abhishek Dutt received 27,019 votes but lost to BJP’s Neeraj Basoya, who won with 38,067 votes.

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Kejriwal retained the New Delhi seat in 2015, ensuring victory over the BJP candidate by more than 31,000 votes. However, his winning margin dropped to 21,000 votes in the 2020 elections.

Twelve years later, the AAP chief has faced defeat at the hands of Parvesh Verma, son of former Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma. For Sandeep Dikshit, this election carried personal value, which was an opportunity to restore his family’s political legacy.

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Parvesh Verma, now being referred to as the “Kejriwal slayer,” has been associated with the BJP for nearly three decades.

In a post on X, he wrote, “The historic and landslide victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Delhi Assembly elections is a symbol of the people’s unwavering support for development, good governance and public welfare policies under the visionary leadership of respected Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.”

The BJP inflicted a massive defeat on AAP in the Delhi Assembly elections on Saturday. The party is set to form a government in the capital for the first time since 1998.

The Election Commission website shows that the BJP has won 48 of the 70 assembly seats, while AAP follows with 22.

Polling for the 70-member Assembly took place on February 5, with a voter turnout recorded at 60.54 per cent. The results were announced on Saturday, February 8.

Calling the BJP’s victory in Delhi “historic,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the people of the national capital had rejected ‘AAP-da’ and that a double-engine government would now accelerate development.

He said that Delhiites were celebrating BJP’s win and relief from ‘AAP-da,’ a phrase he used throughout the campaign to criticise AAP’s governance.

“People of Delhi today have enthusiasm and satisfaction. There is relief of liberating Delhi from ‘AAP-da’. I thank all Delhiites for entrusting their faith in ‘Modi ki guarantee’,” PM Modi said while addressing supporters at the BJP headquarters.

With inputs from agencies