NEW DELHI: The 2025 assembly elections have ushered in a new generation of legislators in Delhi. In the list of winners on Saturday are several first-time candidates whose victories ranged from nail-biting finishes to commanding leads.
These successful debuts reflect the dynamic nature of Delhi’s political landscape, where the established parties have signalled that fresh talent can emerge and succeed in the hurly burly of public life.
Delhi Election Results 2025
Perhaps Ravikant Ujjain, 32, hadn’t expected his first-time win to be as heart in the mouth as it was. The BJP’s youthful candidate secured a dramatic victory in the Trilokpuri reserved constituency, defeating AAP’s Anjana Parcha by a mere 392 votes. During counting, the lead changed several times and it was only in the final round that Ujjain was able to record a stunning reversal to break AAP’s hold on the constituency since 2013.
BJP’s Chandan Kumar Choudhary had a similar experience, winning by the slimmest margin among all debutants while ousting AAP’s Dinesh Mohaniya in Sangam Vihar by just 344 votes. The Mehrauli constituency, in comparison, provided enough cushion for BJP’s Gajender Singh Yadav, who trumped AAP’s Mahender Chaudhary by 1,782 votes.
AAP’s Chaudhary Zubair Ahmad had no such jitters in his debut elections. His count rose relentlessly in Seelampur and at the end of the 19th and final round of counting, his lead over his nearest rival, BJP’s Anil Kumar Sharma, was perched at 42,477 votes, one of the most decisive victories for a first-time candidate. In Madipur (SC), BJP’s Kailash Gangwal, 53, also recorded a comfortable victory by a margin of 10,899 votes. These two wins demonstrated that first-timers making their electoral debut could achieve big wins.
There were a number of candidates whose wins on Saturday carried their family’s political journey further into the future. The Chandni Chowk constituency saw the emergence of AAP’s Punardeep Singh Sawhney from the shadow of his father, former MLA Prahlad Singh Sawhney.
In a similar, low-key manner, Harish Khurana, son of former Delhi CM Madan Lal Khurana, shouldered his father’s legacy with his debut win in the Moti Nagar constituency. Harish was a spokesperson for BJP and an active party member for several years before he was finally nominated to contest the assembly polls this year. Locals remember his father fondly and that helped the Khurana scion to connect easily with voters, resulting in the handsome 11,657-vote win against AAP’s Shiv Charan Goel.
In Matia Mahal, Aaley Mohammad Iqbal’s victory underlined a seamless transition from municipality to state politics. Iqbal, who served as deputy mayor of Delhi Municipal Corporation in 2024, actually began his political journey at the young age of 22 when he won his first municipal contest in 2012 from Turkman Gate. His consecutive victories in the 2017 and 2022 civic polls, followed by his appointment as deputy mayor, established him as a prominent figure in Delhi’s local governance before his massive, 42,724-margin assembly debut in Matia Mahal.
It was a successful transition also for BJP’s Karnail Singh in Shakur Basti. Singh, who heads the party’s temple cell established in 2022 and chairs the advisory board of Madhav Netralaya in Nagpur, has been instrumental in strengthening his party’s connections with the priestly community and religious institutions in the capital. He felled no less than AAP stalwart Satyendar Jain.
The success of these debutants from different age groups and backgrounds indicates a generational shift in the city’s politics. Their diverse experiences – from municipal governance to community service – will bring fresh perspectives in the formulation of policies and governance in the capital.