NEW DELHI: In Indian elections, much of the post-poll conversation tends to focus on the number of seats won or lost. However, examining the vote share of political parties often offers a deeper insight into their performance and reflects the broader mood of the electorate.
A look at the results of Delhi’s assembly elections over the past three decades reveals a significant trend: while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has managed to maintain a steady vote share, the Congress party’s support has steadily dwindled, largely giving way to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
With the exception of the 1993 assembly election, where the BJP, under the leadership of Madan Lal Khurana, secured a remarkable 47.82% of the vote, the saffron party’s vote share has typically hovered in the mid-30s. In contrast, Congress, under Sheila Dikshit, remained in power in Delhi from 1998 to 2013 with a vote share consistently in the 40s. However, the party’s fortunes have taken a sharp turn over the past decade.
Congress saw its vote share dip to 24.6% in 2013, followed by a dramatic fall to 9.7% in 2015 and further to just 4.26% in 2020.
This decline of Congress has coincided with the meteoric rise of AAP, led by Arvind Kejriwal.
Formed in 2012 out of the India Against Corruption movement, AAP first contested elections in 2013, securing 29.5% of the vote and turning the contest into a three-way race. Over the following years, AAP’s support surged, reaching a record 54.3% in 2015 and 53.57% in 2020.
As a result, Congress has been relegated to a distant third position, while the political landscape in Delhi has once again become a bipolar contest, with AAP and BJP as the primary contenders.