Ousted AAP leader Prashant Bhushan explains why Arvind Kejriwal lost Delhi election: ‘Beginning of the end’

Ousted AAP leader Prashant Bhushan explains why Arvind Kejriwal lost Delhi election: ‘Beginning of the end’

Ousted AAP leader Prashant Bhushan explains why Arvind Kejriwal lost Delhi election: ‘Beginning of the end’ ByHT News Desk Feb 09, 2025 08:55 PM IST Share Via Copy Link Delhi election: Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, expelled AAP members, called the loss a setback for those who hoped for an alternative political vision.

Delhi election results: Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) defeat in the Delhi assembly election 2025 against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been attributed to the party supremo's “bluster, propaganda” and "shift from the idea of providing an alternative politics" by his former colleagues.

From left to right: Yogendra-Yadav, Arvind-Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan.

The BJP stormed back to power in Delhi after a 27-year gap, winning 48 of the 70 assembly seats and leaving 22 for the AAP, massively down from its 2020 election tally of 62. Congress, an ally of the AAP under the INDIA bloc, fought the Delhi poll 2025 separately and failed to win even a single seat.

The counting of votes for the Delhi assembly election took place on Saturday, February 8.

Swaraj India party co-founder and psephologist Yogendra Yadav, one of the founding members of AAP who was expelled from the party in 2015 along with Prashant Bhushan, termed the party's loss a setback for all those who dreamt of alternative politics.

Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav were expelled from the AAP in 2015 due to internal conflicts and differences over the party's direction and leadership style.

“Kejriwal is largely responsible for AAP’s Delhi debacle. A party formed for alternative politics which was supposed to be transparent, accountable & democratic was quickly transformed by Arvind into a supremo dominated, non transparent & corrupt party which didn’t pursue a Lokpal & removed its own Lokpal,” Prashant Bhushan said.

He built a 45 crore ‘sheesh mahal’ for himself and began travelling in luxury cars, Prashant Bhushan said, adding that Arvind Kejriwal “binned 33 detailed Policy reports of expert committees set up by AAP, saying that the party will adopt expedient policies when the time comes.”

Arvind Kejriwal “felt that politics could be done by bluster and propaganda,” Prashant Bhushan added.

This is the beginning of the end of AAP, he said.

Swaraj India party co-founder Yogendra Yadav said called AAP's loss a huge setback not just for the AAP but “all those who dreamt of alternative politics in this country 10-12 years ago.”

"It is a setback for all the parties which supported AAP and for the entire opposition in the country," news agency PTI quoted Yadav, who claimed the that the party “gave up” on alternative politics soon after coming to power and got restricted to welfare schemes that reached a saturation point.

After leaving his position as an income tax officer in 2000, Arvind Kejriwal became an RTI activist and lived in Delhi's slums to better understand the struggles faced by its residents, a journey that lasted until 2010. In 2011, he joined Maharashtra-based activist Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement.

Some of the earliest public memories of Arvind Kejriwal include his indefinite hunger strike as part of the 'India Against Corruption' movement alongside Hazare, and his nights spent sleeping in his blue Wagon R during the bitterly cold Delhi winters, protesting for the Jan Lokpal Bill.

These images soon transitioned into Arvind Kejriwal becoming a national figure. Arvind Kejriwal emerged as a key leader alongside Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, successfully fending off the BJP's attempts to unseat the AAP government in Delhi, despite the full force of the Modi factor and resources.

On February 14, 2014, just 49 days into his first term as Delhi's Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal resigned after his ally, Congress, opposed his signature initiative, the Jan Lokpal Bill. In the 2015 elections, AAP won a landslide victory, securing 67 of the 70 seats, and followed it up with 62 seats in 2020.

In 2024, Arvind Kejriwal resigned once again, this time after being jailed over corruption charges related to the excise scam. Arvind Kejriwal declared that the people of Delhi would award him a certificate of honesty in the upcoming assembly election, which failed to happen.