In the Delhi Assembly election 2025, several candidates who switched political parties must be in a happy mood as even after changing sides, they still managed to secure victories. The phenomenon of successful turncoats in elections remains a consistent feature of Indian politics.
Several politicians saw the greener side and they are:
Arvinder Singh Lovely
In Gandhi Nagar, former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, now representing BJP, secured victory with a 12,748-vote margin against AAP’s Naveen Chaudhary.
Delhi Election Results 2025
Former AAP member Kamal Arora, now with Congress, finished third with 3,453 votes.
Lovely joined the BJP in 2017 after a long stint with the Congress. The saffron party replaced its sitting MLA Anil K Bajpai with Lovely for this key constituency. His move drew sharp proved to be a right move for him.
Tarwinder Singh Marwah
BJP’s Tarwinder Singh Marwah, previously a three-term Congress MLA, defeated Manish Sisodia by 675 votes in Jangpura. Sisodia, who relocated from Patparganj, graciously accepted defeat and wished the victor success in serving the constituency.
Marwah, who joined BJP after leaving Congress in 2022, had expressed dissatisfaction with Congress leadership’s unavailability for meetings. At BJP headquarters, he made pointed remarks about the Congress leadership.
Kartar Singh Tanwar
In Chhatarpur, the contest between Gurjar leaders saw Kartar Singh Tanwar, who moved from AAP to BJP, triumph over former BJP member Brahm Singh Tanwar, now with AAP, by 6,239 votes.
anwar, who was elected on an AAP ticket from the Chhatarpur constituency in the 2020 Assembly elections, quit the party and joined the BJP in July this year along with another MLA Raaj Kumar Anand.
Kailash Gahlot
Former AAP minister Kailash Gahlot maintained a lead exceeding 9,000 votes in Bijwasan, competing against AAP’s Surender Bhardwaj and Congress’ Col Devinder Kumar Sehrawat, a former AAP representative.
Kailash Gahlot, who previously held a senior position in AAP and served as a cabinet minister, stepped down from the party in November 2024. He subsequently aligned with BJP the next day. He is now standing for election from Bijwasan, having moved from his earlier constituency of Najafgarh. His electoral rivals are Surender Bharadwaj of AAP, who earlier belonged to the Samajwadi Party, and Dharmpal Chandela representing Congress.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa
In Rajouri Garden, former Akali Dal member Manjinder Singh Sirsa, now with BJP, secured victory by over 18,000 votes. Former BJP MLA Jitender Singh Shunty’s move to AAP proved unsuccessful in Shahdara against BJP’s Sanjay Goyal. In Mangolpuri, former Congress minister Rajkumar Chauhan, representing BJP, won by more than 6,000 votes.
Raaj Kumar Anand
AAP’s Pravesh Ratan won against BJP candidate Raaj Kumar Anand with 4,049 vote margin.
In April 2024, Anand stepped down from both AAP and his position in the Delhi Cabinet, expressing concerns over insufficient Dalit representation in the party. Subsequently, he switched allegiance to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in July 2024 and stood as a candidate in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, representing the New Delhi constituency.
