Battlefield Delhi: Congress banking on old war horses but big fight is between BJP and AAP
For the BJP, the challenge will be to retain all the seven seats in Delhi that it won in 2014. The Congress, on the other hand, is betting on three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit to revive its sagging fortunes.
With both Narendra Modi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in town today, Delhi's poll fever has touched a new high in this scorching heat. Delhi, which is facing a triangular contest between the BJP, AAP and Congress, will go to polls on Sunday, May 12.
For the BJP, the challenge will be to retain all the seven seats in Delhi that it won in 2014. The Congress, on the other hand, is betting on three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit to revive its sagging fortunes. All the three major contenders are seeking votes in the name of development.
In 2014, the Congress came third in all the seats. The BJP, on the other hand, scored an average victory margin of 13 per cent. This was the first time since 1999 that the BJP could win all Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.
The AAP had not only failed to capitalise on the anti-Congress sentiment in 2014, but its constant attacks against the BJP seemingly backfired. It, however, secured second place in all the seats with an average of 33 per cent votes.
This time, Sheila Dikshit is pitted against sitting BJP MP Manoj Tiwari and Dilip Pandey from AAP in North East Delhi constituency. Tiwari received 46.4 per cent votes in North East Delhi in the last general election.
The contest in South Delhi constituency also seems to be interesting with boxer Vijender Singh in the fray on a Congress ticket. He is up against sitting BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri and chartered accountant Raghav Chadha from AAP. Bidhuri had won the last election with more than 45 per cent vote share against AAP's Col Devinder Sehrawat.
This time, the BJP has denied tickets to two sitting MPs - Maheish Girri from East Delhi and Udit Raj from North West Delhi - and replaced them with cricketer Gautam Gambhir and Punjabi singer Hans Raj Hans respectively.
In 2014, Girri had defeated AAP's Rajmohan Gandhi with 15.92 vote margin. This time, AAP has fielded education reformist Atishi Marlena from the seat. For Congress, it is old horse Arvinder Singh Lovely.
In North West Delhi, Hans Raj Hans is up against AAP's Gugan Singh and Congress' Rajesh Lilothiya. In 2014, BJP won this seat with the lowest victory margin compared to other seats in Delhi.
The other high-profile seat is New Delhi where Congress' Ajay Maken will face sitting BJP MP and national spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi and AAP's Brijesh Goyal. In 2014, Lekhi defeated AAP's Ashish Khetan with more than 16 per cent votes.
In Chandni Chowk, sitting BJP MP Harsh Vardhan is contesting against AAP's Pankaj Gupta and Congress' JP Agarwal.
While the BJP is trying to woo voters on issues of security and public safety, AAP is projecting its 'achievements' in the health and education sector. Full statehood for Delhi is also on the AAP's agenda, along with 85 per cent reservation in Delhi's colleges for locals.
Congress, on the other hand, is trying to clean its pre-2014 image wherein it faced massive allegations of corruption.