Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Kailash Gahlot on Saturday defeated the Aam Aadmi Party’s Surender Bharadwaj in the Delhi Assembly elections.

Gahlot won by a margin of 11,276 votes, data from the Election Commission showed.

While the BJP candidate secured 64,951 votes, Bharadwaj bagged 53,675 votes. The Congress’ Devinder Kumar Sehrawat finished third with 9,409 votes.

Gahlot thanked residents of Bijwasan for his election. “This victory is not just mine, it is your victory, it is the victory of every voter who gave priority to development and good governance,” he said.

Follow Scroll’s coverage of the 2025 Delhi Assembly election result here.

Overall, the BJP defeated the Aam Aadmi Party in the Assembly polls.

As of 4.30 pm, the BJP had won 40 seats and was leading in 8 constituencies, data from the Election Commission showed. The Aam Aadmi Party had won 17 seats and was ahead in 5 places.

The halfway mark to gain a majority in the 70-member Assembly is 36 seats.

In November, Gahlot, a former Delhi minister, quit the Aam Aadmi Party and joined the BJP. In his resignation letter to Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, Gahlot said: “Political ambitions have overtaken our commitment towards people, leaving many promises unfulfilled.”

He also criticised the Aam Aadmi Party’s focus on political conflicts, particularly with the BJP-led Union government, stating it has “severely crippled” its ability to serve Delhi residents effectively.

In response to his resignation, Aam Aadmi Party leader Durgesh Pathak had said that Gahlot had been facing income tax raids and was left with no option but to join the BJP. “This is what the BJP does – they used the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation to win elections,” he said.

In March 2024, Gahlot appeared before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case, in which other party leaders, including Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, were arrested.

In 2018, the Income Tax Department raided several locations linked to Gahlot and his family, alleging tax evasion of several crores.

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