What’s next for Arvind Kejriwal?

Rekha Gupta sworn in as Delhi's new Chief Minister, ending Arvind Kejriwal's 26-year reign. What's next for AAP?

A new power occupies the throne in Delhi. On February 20, Rekha Gupta was sworn in as Delhi’s new Chief Minister, ushering in a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Delhi after a 26-year long hiatus. She succeeds Atishi Marlena, who in turn was tapped to be a temporary replacement for AAP party supremo Arvind Kejriwal.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had hoped for a resurgence in the Delhi Legislative Assembly elections, but found itself out of power when votes were counted on February 8. It won only 22 of the total 70 seats, as contrasted with BJP’s 48. When votes were counted on February 8, 2025, several major leaders of the party, including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Saurabh Bharadwaj found themselves among the list of defeated candidates. Mr. Kejriwal lost his New Delhi seat to BJP’s Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, outdone by a margin of 4,098 votes. The former CM now finds himself out of the Vidhan Sabha after a decade-long stay.

The bureaucrat-turned-activist-turned politician had a multiphase journey to his current notoriety. Along the way he picked up new foes and made enemies of former allies, such as senior advocate Prashant Bhushan and anti-corruption activist and mentor Anna Hazare. Following his former disciple’s defeat, Mr. Hazare said, “I have been saying it for a long that while contesting the election - the candidate must have a character, good ideas and have no dent on image but they (AAP) didn’t. They got tangled in liquor and money.” Mr. Hazare further said  he had refused to be a part of the party when it was initially discussed during the anti-corruption movement.  

With the former Chief Minister and MLA no longer spearheading the administration in the national capital, we try to trace his meteoric rise, the steep fall and what lies ahead.   

Arvind Kejriwal was born on August 16, 1968, in Siwani, Haryana. He attended the Campus School in Hisar before graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur in 1989. After a short stint in Tata Steel, he cracked the civil services exam and entered the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) in 1995. There he won acclaim for launching an anti-bribery campaign in his own department. He founded the organisation Parivartan in 2000, aiming to bring in transparency to the tax department, launching protests and even filing a Public Interest Litigation to this end. He also lobbied for change using the Right to Information Act as a powerful tool, particularly to improve the lot of residents in Sundernagari, a New Delhi slum.

Mr. Kejriwal transitioned to activism as a full-time vocation in 2006, and resigned from the IRS. The same year, he received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership.

In 2011, Mr Kejriwal joined the India Against Corruption movement, led by noted social activist Anna Hazare. The movement sought the enactment of the Jan Lokpal Bill to tackle corruption in government. It was in 2012 that Mr. Kejriwal founded the Aam Aadmi Party. At a time when the Centre was racked by multiple scams and instances of high-level corruption, AAP seemed like a promising alternative, touting transparent governance for the public good.