The Bharatiya Janata Party took an early lead over the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi Assembly election as counting of votes began across all 70 constituencies on Saturday morning.

As per the figures at 9.50 am, the BJP was ahead in 37 seats, while the Aam Aadmi Party was ahead in 20 places.

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal was leading against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Parvesh Verma by a slim margin of 254 votes from the New Delhi Assembly constituency, as per the figures at 9.50 am. He had been trailing the BJP candidate earlier in the morning.

The polling was held on Wednesday and the provisional voter turnout was 60.4%, according to the Election Commission.

Most exit polls have projected that the BJP will defeat the ruling Aam Aadmi Party. The Aam Aadmi Party has dismissed the exit polls, saying that the surveys had historically underestimated the party’s performance.

If the survey forecasts hold, the BJP will return to power in Delhi after 26 years.

Also read:

The Aam Aadmi Party has been in power in the national capital since 2013, except for a year of president’s rule between 2014 and 2015.

In September, Kejriwal stepped down as the chief minister and was replaced by party leader Atishi. Kejriwal said that he will return to the post only after voters have expressed their support for him in the Assembly polls.

Kejriwal’s resignation came a week after he was released on bail in the Delhi liquor policy case. He had been arrested in March ahead of the Lok Sabha election.

In the 2020 polls, the Aam Aadmi Party won 62 seats with a 53.8% vote share. The remaining eight seats were won by the BJP, which secured 38.7% of the votes. With a 4.3% vote share, the Congress failed to win any seat.

The Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress contested the polls separately even though they are members of the Opposition INDIA bloc at the national level. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Aam Aadmi Party-Congress alliance lost all seven parliamentary seats in Delhi to the BJP.

This is a developing story. It will be updated as new details are available.

Also read: