Parvesh Verma to Tarvinder Marwah: The BJP giant slayers who defeated AAP heavyweights in Delhi

The Bharatiya Janata Party is all set to return to power in the national capital after 27 years.

According to the Election Commission website, the BJP has won 47 seats and is leading in another, while the AAP has won 22 seats. The Congress, which failed to win a single seat in the 2015 and 2020 Assembly elections, appears set for a repeat performance.

Catch the live updates from the  Delhi Assembly elections here.

With this outcome, Arvind Kejriwal has lost both New Delhi (his own constituency) and Delhi. Kejriwal was defeated by BJP’s Parvesh Verma in the New Delhi seat.

However, Verma is not the only ‘giant slayer’. From Manish Sisodia to Saurabh Bharadwaj, several AAP heavyweights have been defeated by their BJP rivals.

Here’s a look at some BJP candidates who won over key AAP leaders:

Parvesh Verma defeats Arvind Kejriwal

BJP’s Parvesh Verma has defeated AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal and Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit by 4,089 votes in the New Delhi constituency. According to the Election Commission website, Verma received 30,088 votes with all rounds of counting completed, while Kejriwal received 25,999 votes.

Notably, despite being a two-time MP from West Delhi, he was refused a BJP ticket for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Verma, the son of former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma, began his political journey as an MLA from Mehrauli before stepping up to Parliament.

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#WATCH | BJP candidate from New Delhi assembly seat Parvesh Verma celebrates his victory after he defeats AAP national convener and former Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal#DelhiElection2025 pic.twitter.com/Z20ZjMM81m

— ANI (@ANI) February 8, 2025

On February 8, Verma, who was sidelined during the Lok Sabha elections, has now pulled off a stunning victory after defeating Arvind Kejriwal.

In a post on X, he wrote, “The historic and landslide victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Delhi Assembly elections is a symbol of the people’s unwavering support for development, good governance and public welfare policies under the visionary leadership of respected Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.”

He has vowed to launch a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe corruption cases linked to the AAP government and assured that no one would be spared.

Regarding the chief ministerial candidate, Verma said that BJP’s central leadership would consult party MLAs before making a final decision on who would lead the new government.

ALSO READ | How BJP won Delhi elections with its ‘Modi, Mahila and Middle-Class’ formula

Mohan Singh Bisht wins against Adeel Ahmad Khan

BJP’s Mohan Singh Bisht has emerged as a big winner in Mustafabad, a Muslim-majority constituency, by a margin of 17,578 votes.

AAP’s Adeel Ahmad Khan received 67,637 votes, while Bisht received 85,215. The AIMIM also contested the seat, fielding former AAP councillor and 2020 Delhi riots accused Tahir Hussain, who managed to pull 33,474 votes.

A five-time MLA and one of the key candidates of BJP, Bisht is a senior figure in Delhi politics. He first won from Karawal Nagar in 1998 and held the seat until 2015, when he lost to AAP’s Kapil Mishra. However, in 2020, he reclaimed Karawal Nagar by defeating AAP’s Durgesh Pathak.

When Mishra replaced him as the BJP candidate, Bisht had criticised the move as a “big mistake”. Eventually, the party fielded Mishra from Mustafabad.

Mustafabad witnessed the highest voter turnout in northeast Delhi, recording 69% participation, as per Election Commission data.

Shikha Roy defeats Saurabh Bharadwaj

BJP’s Shikha Roy has won the Greater Kailash seat by 3,188 votes, dealing a major blow to senior AAP leader and former Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj.

Roy received 49,594 votes, while Bharadwaj pulled 46,406 votes. Meanwhile, Congress candidate Garvit Singhvi trailed far behind with just 6,711 votes. Roy, who initially lagged, overtook Bharadwaj in the fifth round of counting and maintained a lead of over 3,000 votes.

Ahead of the polls, the BJP made a strategic move by fielding Roy, a two-time councillor, against Bharadwaj. A lawyer by profession, the 60-year-old holds a master’s degree in arts from a government college in Ludhiana under Punjab University. She pursued LLB from the Department of Law, PU, Chandigarh, according to the MyNeta portal.

Her declared assets total over Rs 16 crore, with liabilities exceeding Rs 3 crore, as per the portal.

ALSO READ | Kejri-fall: Did the middle class’ ire dethrone AAP from Delhi?

Notably, Greater Kailash has traditionally recorded a high voter turnout, with 60% participation in the 2020 Assembly elections.

Bharadwaj had secured comfortable wins in the last two polls, clinching 60,372 votes in 2020 and defeating BJP’s Shikha Rai by 16,809 votes. Congress’ Sukhbir Singh Pawar had finished a distant third with 3,339 votes.

Tarvinder Singh Marwah wins against Manish Sisodia

BJP’s Tarvinder Singh Marwah has defeated former Delhi deputy chief minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia in the Jangpura constituency, winning by a narrow margin of 675 votes.

Marwah received 38,859 votes, while Sisodia received 38,184. Congress candidate Farhad Suri lagged behind with 7,350 votes.

Having switched from Patparganj to Jangpura this time, Sisodia accepted his defeat and hoped that the BJP would prioritise the welfare of the people in the area.

A former Congress stalwart, Marwah was a three-time MLA from Jangpura before joining the BJP in July 2022. He had represented the constituency under the Congress banner from 1998 to 2013. He revealed that he was not given time to meet senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi and cited this as a reason for his departure.

According to his election affidavit, Marwah has one pending criminal case. He runs a business and earns revenue from multiple rented properties in Delhi.

Academically, he is a college dropout and studied at PGDAV College, Delhi University, until his first year.

In 2022, he contested from Jangpura but was defeated by AAP’s Praveen Kumar.

ALSO READ | Why Swati Maliwal’s Draupadi ‘cheerharan’ post went viral after Kejriwal’s defeat

Karnail Singh defeats Satyendar Jain

BJP’s Karnail Singh has defeated former Delhi minister and AAP leader Satyendar Jain by a margin of 20,998 votes in the Shakur Basti constituency.

Singh received 56,869 votes, while Jain was able to pull 35,871 votes. Congress candidate Satish Kumar Luthra trailed behind with just 5,784 votes.

जीतने की जंग थी अपनी
कहीं नहीं था हार का नाम
क्षेत्र की सारी जनता को
करनैल सिंह की तरफ से प्रणाम

आज उत्साह का दिन है। आज जनता की ताकत ने भ्रष्टाचारियों को उठाकर पटक दिया। यह केवल मेरी जीत नहीं है। यह जीत है शकूरबस्ती के हर एक उस व्यक्ति की जो इस अहंकारी, भ्रष्टाचारी और आप-दा… pic.twitter.com/WdVuUAyOBw

— Karnail Singh🇮🇳 (@KarnailSinghBJP) February 8, 2025

In the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, Jain had defeated BJP’s Dr SC Vats by 7,592 votes. The constituency had 146,226 registered voters at the time, with 99,165 valid votes cast.

Singh currently heads the BJP’s Temple Cell in Delhi, a unit formed in 2022 to strengthen the party’s outreach to the Brahmin community ahead of elections. He also emerged as the wealthiest candidate in the Delhi polls, with a net worth of ₹259 crore, according to a PTI report citing the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

A vocal critic of Arvind Kejriwal, Singh has frequently attacked the AAP leader over his promise to provide priests with a monthly stipend of Rs 18,000 if re-elected.

Beyond politics, Singh chairs the advisory board of Madhav Netralaya, an eye hospital and research centre in Nagpur.

Satish Upadhyay wins against Somnath Bharti

BJP leader Satish Upadhyay has won from the Malviya Nagar seat after defeating AAP’s Somnath Bharti by a margin of 2,131 votes.

Upadhyay received 39,564 votes, while Bharti pulled in 37,433 votes. Meanwhile, Congress candidate Jitender Kumar Kochar finished third with 6,770 votes.

मालवीय नगर में कमल खिलाने के लिए जनता का आभार!@BJP4India @BJP4Delhi pic.twitter.com/wTWRGGg3g2

— Satish Upadhyay (@upadhyaysbjp) February 8, 2025

Malviya Nagar is located in South Delhi and is named after freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malaviya. It falls under the New Delhi Parliamentary constituency and is surrounded by several unauthorised colonies.

Contesting as an MLA candidate for the first time, Upadhyay had unveiled a “development roadmap” for the constituency, promising a ‘single-window’ system to address civic issues if elected.

Following his win, Upadhyay thanked Malviya Nagar’s voters. In a post on ‘X’, he thanked the Prime Minister, the Union Home Minister, the BJP President, as well as the party’s leadership and workers.

In the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, AAP’s Bharti had secured a comfortable win with 52,043 votes. BJP’s Shailendra Singh had trailed with 33,899 votes, while Congress candidate Neetu Verma Soin received 2,856 votes.