On February 5, the battle for Delhi will be decided based on the many welfare schemes and freebies promised by the main players. Over the past 12 years, the people of Delhi have shown a clear inclination towards the party that promises and delivers tangible benefits.
In 2013, Arvind Kejriwal’s first stint as chief minister lasted only 49 days, but in that time he gave the voters subsidised electricity. In 2015, he repeated the promise―electricity bills at 50 per cent lower rate and free water―to win 67 of 70 seats, the best performance by a political party in Delhi.
By 2020, the political climate in Delhi was charged. The BJP had again swept the seven Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections and had fulfilled its ideological promise of bringing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Refusing to be drawn into the polarising debate, Kejriwal stayed silent and focused on deliverables. This time, the AAP promised Delhiites free electricity; the party won 62 seats.
Now, with the 2025 campaign in full swing, the stakes are higher than ever for the AAP. The BJP’s dominance in the Lok Sabha elections and the AAP’s troubled relationship with INDIA bloc ally Congress have compounded its challenges. More importantly, Kejriwal, along with his cabinet colleagues Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, has spent months in jail on corruption charges, which created a leadership vacuum and a credibility crisis.
Learning from its Punjab campaign, where the promise of Rs1,000 a month for women voters was a game-changer, Kejriwal upped the ante by pledging Rs2,100 a month for women in Delhi.
The AAP has also promised 200 units of free power for tenants through separate meters, aiming to expand its voter base. The free power promise remains a key point in Delhi as the AAP claims it was the first party in the country to promise this.
The BJP, which had earlier derided these promises as “freebies”, has been forced to joined the bandwagon. “They are playing on our pitch,” said an AAP leader. “We are setting the agenda and they are following it.”
The BJP argues that its promises are factored in the budget and do not push states into debt. The AAP, however, says it has shown how welfare schemes are rolled out and it still has the lowest debt among states. Said Kejriwal: “The BJP calls it revadi (freebies). I say it is God’s prasad (religious offering). Take it.”
The other big challenge that came the AAP’s way were pictures of the opulent official residence that Kejriwal allegedly built for himself at Flagstaff Road. The BJP called it a sheesh mahal (crystal palace) and began tearing down Kejriwal’s image of an aam aadmi and an honest politician. “Can anyone call him kattar imandaar (fanatically honest, a term Kejriwal often used to describe himself) now after the corruption charges and this luxurious house?” asked BJP’s Delhi election in-charge Baijayant Panda.
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Kejriwal faces scepticism from Delhi’s middle class, a demographic that feels burdened by increasing inflation and the state of infrastructure, which was the strong point of Sheila Dikshit’s three terms. And the “sheesh mahal”―the BJP claimed a CAG report had said Rs33 crore were spent on it―only adds to the middle-class anger. While welfare schemes have historically appealed to the poor, the middle-class backlash could be a hurdle for Kejriwal.
But, instead of being on the defensive, AAP steered the debate towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence. “They should open up the Rs2,700 crore residence PM Modi built for himself [at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg], and then open the chief minister’s residence for the public to see,” said AAP minister and spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj.
To woo the middle class, Kejriwal has talked of high taxes levied on the salaried class, and promised higher health insurance amounts, sops for dalits to study abroad, 50 per cent fare for students on the metro and employment generation.
The capital’s slums and unauthorised colonies, which exist in stark contrast to the affluent areas and markets, have become a major battleground this time. The BJP’s aggressive pitch in these areas―traditionally AAP strongholds―has forced the ruling party to send its cadres to meet the voters and tell them of the AAP’s “proven track record” of implementing social welfare schemes. With their higher voting percentages, the residents there can swing the elections.
Importantly, Kejriwal is no longer the chief minister. Aitshi holds that office, but Kejriwal has been vocal about returning as chief minister to try and allay voters’ fears. “He is fighting these polls as a referendum on his honesty,” said a senior AAP leader and strategist.
What the AAP hopes will work in its favour is the lack of a chief minister face for its opponents. The party has arranged baraats (marriage processions) to highlight this point―there would be people, a band and even a horse, but no groom (chief minister candidate) on that horse. Then comes the question: Dulha kaun hai (Who’s the groom)?
The BJP, though, has stuck to its strategy of fighting under a collective leadership with Modi as the mascot and national leaders like Home Minister Amit Shah, party chief J.P. Nadda and the party’s chief ministers as star campaigners. The last time the BJP had a chief minister face was in 2015―it projected former IPS officer Kiran Bedi with disastrous results, as even party leaders were not enthused. This time around, the BJP is focused on its nationalistic rhetoric and its governance record at the Centre to argue for a double-engine rule in Delhi. While the BJP has been holding multiple rallies and roadshows, AAP leaders said they were relying on nukkad (neighbourhood) meetings. The party has called leaders from other states to manage its campaign in different constituencies. For instance, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has been camping in Delhi for weeks and will be there till the eve of voting.
Another challenge for the AAP is the Congress, with whom it shares a frosty relationship. They were allies in the Lok Sabha elections, but this time the Congress is aggressively trying to regain lost ground from the AAP. When Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi attacked the AAP during his campaign, Kejriwal said, “I will not comment. He is fighting to save the Congress, my fight is to save the country.”
The AAP’s strategy is to not be drawn into direct attacks on the Congress as it could energise the latter’s campaign. If the Congress does well, it will eat into AAP votes, directly helping the BJP in close contests.
“We did not attack them even during the Haryana polls,” said a party leader. “All INDIA bloc parties have openly pledged support to us, be it the Samajwadi Party, the Trinamool Congress, the NCP (Sharad Pawar) or the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray).”
At the quarter of the 21st century, Delhi struggles with basic civic issues such as garbage, bad roads, pollution and a public transport system struggling to keep up with the population. The AAP has promised to take Delhi to European standards, while the BJP said it would make Delhi the world’s best capital city.
The 2025 elections are not just a referendum on freebies, but also a test of the electorate’s evolving priorities in a politically charged capital. The verdict will resonate nationally.