THE NEW DELHI ASSEMBLY AAP BJP 22 48 ( 40) (▼40) ▲ VERDICT 2025 LUCKNOW,LATECITY FEBRUARY9,2025 18+4PAGES,`6.00 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM (▲▼) Change in seats from 2020 VOTE SHARE BJP AAP INC 43.57% 6.34% 2020 38.51% 53.57% 4.26% 2015 32.19% 54.34% 9.65% 2025 45.56% AAP OUSTED, CONG STUCK AT ZERO, VOTERS HAND OVER CAPITAL’S KEYS TO BJP AFTER 27 YRS Aamaadmiverdict:BJPforDelhi 5-fold jump in BJP seats: PM promises to build modern city SeniorBJPleaders,includingUPDeputyCMsKeshavPrasad MauryaandBrajeshPathak,inLucknowonSaturday. PTI MALLICA JOSHI, JATIN ANAND, GAYATHRI MANI & SAMAN HUSAIN RULING PARTY WINS BYPOLL BY 61,710 VOTES Months after Ayodhya LS blow, BJP drowns SP challenge in Milkipur BHUPENDRA PANDEY LUCKNOW, FEBRUARY 8 THE BJP on Saturday won the prestige fight for the Milkipur Assembly seat, with its candidate Chandrabhanu Paswan defeating his Samajwadi Party (SP) rival Ajit Prasad by 61,710 votes. The BJP had staked it all for the bypoll, which falls under the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the party had lost from Faizabad, in a loss of face as the LokSabhaconstituencyincludes Ayodhya. The SP candidate who won from Faizabad, Awadhesh Prasad,hadvacatedtheMilkipur seat, necessitating the bypoll. Prasad's son Ajit was the SP candidate for the bypoll. “We took the welfare programmes and schemes of the double engine BJP government to the people of Milkipur and they supported us. We will not leave any stone unturned for the development of Milkipur,” Paswan said, following his victory, crediting it to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the good governance of the BJP-led Centre and state governments. The BJP’s victory indicates that while Mulims and Yadavs may have stayed with the SP candidate, the Pasi community —towhichbothAjitandPaswan belong — and other Scheduled Caste (SC) communities rallied behind the BJP. This is what changed from the Lok Sabha polls, when the Pasi community was seen to have played a key role in the SP’s victory. Paswan’s efforts were also likely aided by the BJP’s core voter base of Brahmins (around 65,000) and Thakurs (around 18,000). The SC-reserved Milkipur CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 8 PMNarendraModi,BJPchief JPNaddaatthepartyheadquarterson Saturday. Praveen Khanna FULLCOVERAGE,PAGES8,9,10 L-G vs CM: Now ‘double In 13 seats, Cong tally more engine’ on parallel tracks? than what AAP lost by APURVA VISHWANATH NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 8 ONE REFRAIN in the BJP’s election campaign in states hasbeen its rhetoric around the benefits of a “double engine” — the party in power in the state working with the NDA-ruled Centre. In Delhi, this rhetoric rings closer home to reality. Indeed, the BJP’s electoral victory Saturday sets the stage for easing of the prolonged legal tussle over the state’s “unique constitutional status” between the Centre and the former Aam Aadmi Party-led government. As it stands now, Article 239AA of the Constitution, keeps services, land, police and public orderoutof thecontrolof the elected government. While the pre-eminence of theLieutenantGovernor(L-G) was accepted in land, police and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ANJISHNU DAS & LALMANI VERMA NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 8 SEVERAL AAP stalwarts, including Arvind Kejriwal, lost by margins smaller than the votes secured by the Congress in their seats. In all, there were 13 such seats out of 70. Incidentally, the Congress failedtoopenitsaccountinDelhi for the third time in a row. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ENDING ITS 27-year exile from power in the national Capital and handing the ruling AAP a stunning defeat, the BJP swept the Delhi Assembly elections Saturday, bagging 48 of the 70 seats in the House. The remaining 22 seats went to AAP while the Congress drew a blank for the third time in a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kejriwall crumbled: City falling apart, graft cloud, blame game... MALLICA JOSHI & JATIN ANAND NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 8 Kejriwal’s New Delhi seat was one of 13 where the AAP defeat margin was less than the votes for Congress. ANI IN APRIL 2024, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, his former deputy Manish Sisodia, former health ministerSatyendarJain,communications in-charge Vijay Nair and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh were in jail. The party’s toughestelectoralbattlewasjust 10 months away. Saturday’s results indicate the missing leadership had a more significant impact on the party than it let on. While Jain was arrested in an alleged money laundering case, the rest were behind bars in the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2