BJP’s Delhi sweep marred by Badarpur, a stronghold in past

BJP won 48 of 70 seats in recent elections, losing Badarpur to AAP's Netaji due to anti-incumbency and his public engagement despite prior loss.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently concluded elections won 48 out of the 70 seats, making inroads in Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-dominated constituencies, and retaining most of its seats barring one — Badarpur.

Badarpur was one of the eight seats the BJP had won in 2020, with Ramvir Singh Bidhuri beating the AAP’s Ram Singh Netaji.On February 8 this year, Netaji secured a decisive victory, defeating the BJP’s Narayan Dutt Sharma by 25,888 votes. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

Won in 2020, the Badarpur seat flipped to the AAP instead, with the constituency continuing a three-decade trend of never re-electing an incumbent MLA.

Badarpur was one of the eight seats the BJP had won in 2020, with Ramvir Singh Bidhuri beating the AAP’s Ram Singh Netaji.On February 8 this year, Netaji secured a decisive victory, defeating the BJP’s Narayan Dutt Sharma by a whopping 25,888 votes.

To be sure, the constituency’s voter turnout in 2025 fell to 56.93% from 59.5% in 2020.

Anti-incumbency and accessibility

Some locals attribute the BJP’s defeat to anti-incumbency and Netaji’s continued engagement in works and public welfare despite his 2020 loss.

“He has always been accessible, and people could reach out to him quite easily. He will attend people’s weddings in the neighbourhood if invited, and even though he did not win in 2020, he was still just as available to the public,” said 32-year-old Yashwinder Singh, a resident of Gautam Puri, a lower middle-class colony in Badarpur.

Another resident, e-rickshaw driver Veeru Kohli of Molarband village, said Netaji’s efforts in addressing civic issues such as water shortages resonated with voters. “Bidhuri was not seen in our village after 2020, when he came seeking votes. Clean water is a big problem, and when people needed assistance, Netaji would help out with water tankers,” Kohli added.

Electoral volatility

With 362,621 registered voters, Badarpur is a diverse constituency, straddling both banks of the Yamuna and bordering Haryana. It consists of lower middle-class colonies like Saurabh Vihar and Gautam Puri, unauthorised settlements such as Jaitpur Extension, and urban villages like Badarpur and Molarband. The area’s economic landscape is closely tied to industrial clusters, making employment a major concern for residents.

Badarpur has never re-elected a sitting MLA since 1993, with power shifting between parties and independent candidates.

In 1993, Bidhuri won as a Janata Dal candidate. In 1998, Netaji won as an independent candidate. In 2003, the seat went back to Bidhuri, who contested from the Nationalist Congress Party. The seat’s current geographical structure was realigned as part of delimitation in 2008, the year Netaji returned as the winner. He was contesting the seat on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket. In 2013, Bidhuri again won — this time as a BJP candidate — while in 2015, Narayan Dutt Sharma won as an AAP candidate. In 2020, the trend continued with the seat switching back to the BJP.

Vacant seat irked voters

Bidhuri, who won in 2020, did not complete his five-year term as he vacated the seat last year to contest the Lok Sabha elections as the BJP’s South Delhi candidate, a race he eventually won. The by-election to fill his assembly seat was never held, leaving Badarpur without an MLA for months.

“With Bidhuri not contesting and people not having an MLA for the last several months, the decision to vote for Netaji was made simpler. He has done work in the past, and that made it easy for us to choose him,” said Satish Sinha, 55, a resident of Badarpur village.

He added that Bidhuri’s presence in the contest might have led to a different result. “Had Bidhuri been there, maybe people would have considered him again.”