New Delhi: It is clear that Delhi voted for a change and this means more responsibility for the next chief minister (CM) to perform. It would be interesting to see who the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chooses as the CM.
How much will the caste factor contribute to the choice of the CM? Or will the regional factors be the decisive factor considering the evergrowing population of purvanchalis (the migrants from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) in the national capital, who are increasingly challenging the political domination of the Punjabis of late? Can there be someone like former state BJP president Manoj Tiwari, a BJP Member of Parliament from North East Delhi, be made the Chief Minister to address the purvanchali factor? The BJP is capable of springing up surprises, given its past record in other states such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan!
For the time being, the two names being played up for the CMs role are that of Vijender Gupta, and the giant killer Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma. While Parvesh, son of former Chief Minister late Sahib Singh Verma, defeated the AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi constituency, Gupta is a formidable leader from Rohini, who was among the only three BJP contestants who could win when the AAP swept the elections in the 2015 state elections, and thereafter, retained his seat in 2020, when again the BJP figures could not touch the double figure (I could win 8 seats then).
The contest for the CMship could have been more intense if Ramesh Bidhuri and Dushyant Kumar Gautam had not lost the contest. Bidhuri lost to the sitting chief minister Aatishi of the AAP, while Gautam, a BJP national general secretary, lost to AAP’s Vishesh Ravi.
Also read: How the BJP won Delhi elections 2025
With Gupta and Verma being seen as strong contenders for the CMship, the question arises of to what extent caste would be the decisive factor in the choice of the CM.
Gupta, an alumnus of the prestigious Shri Ram College of Commerce of the University of Delhi, belongs to the Baniya community. Parvesh is a Jat, who is an MBA from the Kirori Mal College of the same university.
Statistically, Baniyas have a stronger presence than the Jat in the national capital and the Baniya community in Delhi is a significant voting bloc, primarily consisting of traders, business owners, and professionals. They are traditionally associated with commerce and entrepreneurship and have a strong presence in some of the key electoral constituencies located in Delhi’s richest commercial hubs, such as Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazaar, Karol Bagh, Rajendra Nagar, Pitampura, Rohini, and Greater Kailash.
The Baniya community has historically supported the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) due to its pro-business policies, Hindutva ideology, and focus on economic reforms but while BJP has strong backing, especially younger and middle-class Baniyas were drawn to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for its governance model, education reforms, and business-friendly initiatives. Even Kejriwal, a rank outsider (he belonged to Haryana and used to live in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad till he became Delhi’s Chief Minister), is a Baniya, and in the 2015 and 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, the Baniya voters favoured Kejriwal, which contributed to AAP’s substantial victories in those elections.
This time again Kejriwal made concerted efforts to appeal to the Baniya community, emphasizing his own Baniya heritage and assuring fiscal responsibility for proposed welfare schemes, but because of strong leaders like Gupta, the Baniyas finally shifted back towards the BJP in 2025. This development highlighted the dynamic nature of political affiliations within the Baniya community in Delhi over recent election cycles. Hence, by winning for the third consecutive term, Vijender has demonstratively maintained his influence in Delhi politics. He has also led the Delhi state unit of the BJP from May 2010 to February 2013.
As for Verma, by defeating Kejriwal, he only cemented his image as a giant killer. In the 2013 Delhi Assembly election, he had contested from the Mehrauli constituency and secured a victory against Yoganand Shastri, the then Speaker of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha. Thereafter, he contested and won the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha Elections from the West Delhi constituency.
In Delhi, Verma’s Jat and Bidhuri’s Gujjar communities have a strong presence in certain Assembly constituencies, primarily in the rural and semi-urban areas. These constituencies – Narela, Bawana, Mundka, Najafgarh, Matiala, Mehrauli, Chhatarpur, Deoli Bijwasan – are politically significant as Jats and Gujjars are influential in rural Delhi politics. Barring Deoli, the BJP emerged victorious in all these constituencies. Parvesh and Bidhuri, although he lost, are now getting credit for consolidating the Jat and Gujjar votes in rural Delhi.
Against this backdrop, it would be interesting to note who would emerge as the next chief minister of Delhi. Even as Gupta’s Baniya community has a stronger presence, there are several instances where Prime Minister Narendra Modi has backed candidates with little community backing such as Devendra Phadnavis, a Brahmin in Maratha-dominated Maharashtra.
