New Delhi, Feb 8 (IANS) The historic win for the BJP in the Delhi Assembly election not only ended its 27-year exile from power but also re-enforced the magical power of ‘Brand Modi’ and its strategic messaging which turned the tide in the party’s favour in a tough fight with Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP.
The ‘Modi factor’ has been consistently delivering resounding results for the BJP — in 2024 Lok Sabha polls and Assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra were the latest examples of it.
“Vikas and good governance have won,” said PM Modi after the BJP won a comfortable victory on Saturday, at the end of a bitter election contest which he turned in BJP’s favour by coining the term “AAP-da” (calamity) for Kejriwal’s outfit.
There is no denying that PM Modi’s popularity, which secured BJP’s win in Maharashtra and Haryana, also took the BJP to the victory line in Delhi, agreed political analysts who called “Modi ki Guarantee” the biggest weapon in the party’s arsenal.
The win in Delhi which came for the first time after 1998, carries the stamp of a strong pro-incumbency wave in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government.
The Modi Effect
Between 2015 and 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, the BJP’s vote share increased from 32.3 per cent to 38.5 per cent. In the just concluded Assembly elections, the party’s vote share touched 48 per cent.
The 2020 Assembly election was the first time that the BJP supporters, along with other voters in Delhi, were voting after seeing the performance of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre after a full tenure of five years.
Ahead of the 2015 elections, the Modi government was just one year old and Delhiites hadn’t seen his performance over a long period.
The BJP’s support and vote share in this Assembly election has risen as voters were now aware of the ‘Modi Magic’ and his reputation for delivering on guarantees.
There is no doubt that this time the Delhiites voted on Modi’s face value, just as voters did in Haryana and Maharashtra, after the Prime Minister guaranteed the continuation of all free welfare schemes being offered in the National Capital by the AAP and promised to make Delhi a global Capital or ‘Viksit Delhi’.
Pollsters believe that after the AAP and the BJP promised the same free welfare services, the differentiating factor that might have impacted the voter decision was the image of the top leaders of both the parties that is, Arvind Kejriwal for the AAP and PM Modi for the BJP.
The BJP scored over the AAP in the Modi versus Kejriwal clash due to the corruption allegations against the AAP leader, said a political analyst, adding that the anti-incumbency proved costly for the AAP.
The Modi boost to BJP’s Mission Delhi started on January 3 when he sounded the BJP’s poll bugle for Assembly elections, comparing the AAP government to a calamity and unveiled the term “AAP-da” for Kejriwal’s outfit – a masterstroke that bore fruit till the last day of campaign.
In the same event in Ashok Vihar, PM Modi gave his party men the new slogan “AAPada ko hatana hai, BJP ko lana hai”. This narrative superimposed the idea of change for the good, positioning the BJP as the safer choice under the ‘Modi ki Guarantee’.
The powerful messaging through this slogan added to the firepower of Brand Modi quite like the way the PM had managed to swing the popular mood in other states earlier. The slogan “Ek Hain to Safe Hain (When united, we are safe)” found the approval of voters, especially in Maharashtra and Haryana.
PM Modi’s anti-corruption call was best encapsulated in the Haryana election in his slogan on doing corruption-free work without “Kharchi, Parchi”.
In the Delhi election, PM Modi was quick to hit out at the AAP for pursuing “poisonous politics” soon after Kejriwal accused the BJP-led Haryana government of poisoning Yamuna water.
Shift in voter preference
A shift in voter sentiment between Lok Sabha and Assembly elections was very crucial for the BJP’s victory in Delhi.
Many voters who thought they made the mistake of not voting for the BJP during the last two Assembly polls in 2015 and 2020 — despite backing the party in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections — corrected their decision in the 2025 Assembly polls.
A key reason behind this shift was the growing confidence in PM Modi’s leadership and the central government’s actions, which voters felt would contribute positively to their lives under a double-engine regime.
Interestingly, the “Modi ki Guarantee” also appealed to Muslim voters in the city with the BJP getting the support of 12-13 per cent of the electorate from the community. In the last election, the party had got support from only 3 per cent of Muslim voters.
–IANS
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