AAP's 'tsunami' in Delhi: A look at Kejriwal's landslide win through historical prism

With 67 seats in 70 member Delhi Assembly, Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi party has registered thumping victory in the election.

The result is being termed as "tsunami" verdict for the Arvind Kejriwal-led party which looked feeble and beleaguered in the past in comparison to invincible Modi-led BJP.

Who would have believed that the fledgling party AAP, which was once on the brink of moving into oblivion after big rout in Lok Sabha election, will ever make a comeback and crush mammoth parties like BJP and Congress.

AAP outshined BJP on all front

In a nutshell, these are the main factors which turned the table in AAP's favour including reading people's nerve in right way, honest assertions, no personal attacks and last but not the least that party remained successful to make voters believe that AAP was a better alternative in the capital.

In contrast, BJP lost the plot completely. Apparently, BJP was complacent and did everything, keeping AAP in mind. 'AAP phobia' took toll on the saffron brigade.

It was not the natural strategy of the party, rather the saffron party stooped low by resorting vilifying campaign against AAP chief, and by calling him 'Bhagora' and 'anarchist'.

Moreover, para shooting Kiran Bedi at the last moment, leading to infighting within the party also backfired.

Here is the detail about how parties fared in all the Assembly elections in the national capital since 1993 when first Assembly elections took place in the national capital.

1993 election

In this election, BJP came to power with bang. Sahib Singh Verma had become the first Chief Minister of the national capital.

In the election, BJP had won 49 seats (47.82%) against Congress's 14.

Clean image of Verma worked in BJP's favour to trounce the Opposition.

1998 election-When onion prices took toll on the saffron party

Congress bounced back in this election after being relegated to number two in previous election. Disgruntled with skyrocketing vegetable prices, especially, onion encouraged people to vote against BJP.

The saffron party had fought the election in leadership of Madan Lal Khurana but could not sustain.

Congress wrested out 52 seats from BJP which could get only 15 seats in the election. This was the time when Sheila Dikshit took the reins of Delhi for the first time.

2003 election
BJP had fought this election in the leadership of Vijay Kumar Malhotra but failed to make people believe that party will provide good governance and prosperity.

Congress once again fought this election with Sheila Dikshit at the helm. BJP hoped to thrive on Congress's anti-incumbency but its hopes were dashed down.

Clean image and infrastructural development pushed Congress in the driver's seat once again. In the election, the Congress party had got 47 seats against saffron party's 20.

2008 election

This was the third successive victory of the grand old party in the leadership of maverick Sheila Dikshit. BJP was once again outshined by Congress which got 43 seats. BJP was relegated to number two with 23 seats.

In spite of ruling three time consecutively, anti-incumbency didn't wobble Congress's way to power. At that time, Dikshit herself had no idea that in the next election she will face big humiliation at the hand of novice Arvind Kejriwal.

2013 election
This was the watershed moment in Indian politics where fledgling party AAP gave tough competition to mainstream national parties like BJP and the Congress.

Though BJP had got more number of seats than what AAP got in the election, still the way party made other parties insecure, that spoke volume about its mettle on the political pitch.

AAP got 28 seats against 32 seats by the saffron party in the historic election. Congress was humiliated to number three with only 8 seats.