Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has secured the highest percentage of votes from the marginalised communities especially Muslims and Dalits in recent Delhi Assembly Elections, while the upper caste votes consolidated in the favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
According to the survey conducted by the Lokniti-CSDS, the AAP was polled 65% Muslim votes and 67% Dalits while the BJP got 66% Brahmin votes and 60% Rajput. The BJP also secured 66% Vaishiya/Bania votes and 67% Punjabi Khatris in the recent assembly elections, whose results were announced on 8 January.
Jatav (59%) and Yadav (50%) are also among the communities which voted for the AAP more than 50%. Other minorities (50%), other Dalits (53%), Gujjar (49%) and Jat (44%) also voted the Arvind Kejriwal-led party in significant numbers. On the other hand, a miniscule percentage of Brahmin (26%), Rajput (33%) and Vaishiya Bania (25%) was also the AAP voters in this election.
When it comes to the BJP, Muslims (15%), Valmiki (25%), Other Dalits (41%, Sikh (43%) and other minorities (40%) have voted for the saffron party.
The researchers Sanjay Kumar and Dhruv Pandey, who wrote a piece for Indian Express on the findings of the survey, noted that the victory of the BJP in Delhi was the result of a well-calibrated strategy that combined careful ticket distribution, targeted campaigning, and a strong pitch of being a “better alternative”.
The Hindutva party forged an alliance of upper caste and OBC voters to register its victory in the election. On the other hand, the AAP has only retained its core base Dalit and Muslims, although it has slightly dipped.
The Delhi elections also witnessed a gender divide between men and women when it comes to the preference of the party. AAP was top choice of the women while the BJP was for men.
The Lokniti-CSDS survey found that the BJP, along with its NDA allies, got a significant edge among male voters, winning more than half (51%) of their vote, while the AAP could manage only 39%. The BJP thus secured a critical 12-percentage point lead over the AAP in garnering the male vote.
The survey shows reveals that in comparison with the 2020 Assembly elections, the BJP’s 2025 vote share rose by 8 percentage points among the male electorate, while that of the AAP plunged by 10 percentage points.
On the other hand, the AAP outperformed the BJP, garnering almost half (49%) of the women voters, in comparison to the BJP’s 43%. Despite getting this six-percentage point lead, the AAP’s vote share among women voters in 2025 witnessed a decline of 11 percentage points as compared to the 2020 polls. In contrast, the BJP’s vote share among male voters saw an upsurge of 8 percentage points in 2025 from the 2020 polls. The Congress received a limited public support, gaining just 7% and 5% of the male and female votes, respectively.
According to the Election Commission, the BJP got 45% vote share with 48 seats and the AAP cornered 43% with 22 seats.
