 "Delhi Assembly elections: Arvind Kejriwal vs Parvesh Verma vs Sandeep Dikshit… Key contests to keep an eye on")
Delhi is voting to elect a 70-member Assembly on Wednesday (February 5). Over 1.5 crore voters will decide the fate of 699 candidates contesting the polls. The counting of votes will be done on February 8.
The Delhi Assembly elections 2025 is witnessing a triangular contest among the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Congress. While Arvind Kejriwal’s party is hoping to retain power, the BJP and the Congress are vying to dethrone the AAP.
The saffron party has remained out of power in Delhi since 1998. The Congress, which was the dominant force in Delhi under Sheila Dikshit from 1998 and 2013, is aiming for a revival in the National Capital.
As Delhi goes to the polls tomorrow, here are the key contests that you should watch out for.
New Delhi
AAP convenor and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is fighting from the New Delhi constituency, which he has been winning since 2013. He defeated the then Delhi CM and veteran Congress leader Sheila Dikshit from the seat at the time.
Kejriwal bagged the New Delhi constituency by a lead of 21,697 votes in the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections against BJP’s Sunil Kumar Yadav.
This time, the AAP chief is facing BJP’s Parvesh Verma and Congress’ Sandeep Dikshit in a three-way fight.
While Verma is the son of former Delhi CM Sahib Singh Verma, Dikshit is the son of ex-CM Sheila Dikshit.
Kejriwal is banking on the AAP government’s welfare schemes and governance as he eyes return as the Delhi CM. However, this time is going to be a tough battle.
Kalkaji
Delhi Chief Minister Atishi is the AAP candidate from the Kalkaji Assembly seat. It is a three-way contest as she is in the fray against BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri and Congress leader Alka Lamba.
Atishi had won from Kalkaji in the 2020 Delhi Assembly polls by a margin of 11,393 votes against the BJP candidate Dharmabir Singh in her debut election.
— Atishi (@AtishiAAP) February 3, 2025
Lamba, the All India Mahila Congress chief, had won the Chandani Chowk Assembly seat in 2015 on an AAP ticket. She switched to the Congress in 2019.
Kalkaji will be a keenly watched race as the BJP has fielded its ex-MP, Ramesh Bidhuri, whose campaign courted controversy over objectionable remarks on Atishi.
Jangpura
Jangpura will report an interesting fight as AAP’s Manish Sisodia is up against the BJP’s Tarvinder Singh Marwah and Farhad Suri of the Congress.
Former Deputy CM Sisodia shifted to Jangpura this time from his Patparganj seat. The Jangpura Assembly constituency was bagged by AAP’s Praveen Kumar in 2020 and 2015.
जंगपुरा विधानसभा में विशाल बाइक रैली निकाली गई, जिसमें बड़ी संख्या में लोगों ने हिस्सा लिया।
— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) February 3, 2025
पूरे जंगपुरा ने प्यार, विश्वास जताया और अपना आशीर्वाद दिया। जंगपुरा की जनता झाड़ू के साथ है!
दिल्ली में एक बार फिर आम आदमी पार्टी की सरकार बनने जा रही है!#MS4Jangpura… pic.twitter.com/VTWyRrkhpz
Tarvinder Singh Marwah, who was the Jangpura MLA from 1998 to 2013 for Congress, joined the BJP in 2022. He lost the 2020 and 2015 elections to AAP’s Verma.
Sisodia, who was among the top AAP leaders arrested in the Delhi excise policy case, will return as Delhi’s Deputy CM if his party returns to power.
Shakur Basti
Former Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, who spent 18 months in jail in connection to a money laundering case, has been fielded by the AAP from Shakur Basti. The BJP has pitted Karnail Singh, the chief of its Delhi Mandir Prakoshth (temple cell), against him. The Congress has given a ticket to Satish Luthra.
Jain won the Shakur Basti constituency for the past three elections. He emerged victorious in the 2020 Delhi Assembly polls from the seat with a 51.60 per cent vote share. The BJP candidate, Dr SC Vats, was the runner-up.
Ballimaran
Ballimaran is another key constituency that will see a high-stakes battle. The AAP has given a ticket to its sitting MLA Imran Hussain from the seat. He defeated the BJP’s Lata Sodhi by a margin of 36,172 votes in the 2020 polls.
This time, Hussain is being challenged by the Congress candidate Haroon Yusuf and the BJP’s Kamal Bagri. Ballimaran, which comes under the Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha constituency, has a predominantly Muslim population.
Yusuf, who won the Ballimaran Assembly seat five times between 1993 and 2013, is aiming to wrest the constituency from the AAP. He served as minister in the Sheila Dikshit-led Delhi government.
Greater Kailash
Delhi minister Saurabh Bhardwaj, a three-time AAP MLA from Greater Kailash, is contesting to retain his seat for a fourth time. The GK Assembly seat falls under the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.
While there were speculations that the BJP could field Smriti Irani from the GK seat, it has given a ticket to Shikha Rai. In the 2020 polls, Bharadwaj had trounced BJP’s Rai by a margin of 16,809 votes.
Garvit Singhvi is the Congress candidate for the seat this time.
Other key fights
In Malviya Nagar, Somnath Bharti, a three-term AAP MLA, is fighting to win again from his seat. He is being challenged by Satish Upadhyay of the BJP and Jitendra Kumar Kochar of the Congress.
The BJP’s sitting MLA Vijender Gupta is up against the AAP candidate Pradeep Mittal from the Rohini Assembly seat. The Congress’ Sumesh Gupta is also in the race.
दिल्ली का भरोसा
— Vijender Gupta (@Gupta_vijender) February 3, 2025
भाजपा के साथ..
भव्य रोड शो में उमड़े विशाल जनसैलाब ने बदलाव का आगाज कर दिया है। इस बार जनता विकासवादी नीतियों के साथ है और दिल्ली में प्रधानमंत्री श्री नरेंद्र मोदी जी के नेतृत्व में डबल इंजन की सरकार बनने जा रही है। #दिल्ली_चली_मोदी_के_साथ#आ_रही_है_भाजपा pic.twitter.com/Hkz23sHxRe
The AAP has given a ticket to teacher-turned-politician Awadh Ojha from Sisodia’s home turf, Patparganj. He is squaring off with BJP’s Ravinder Singh Negi and Congress candidate Anil Chaudhary.
Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan is the AAP candidate for the seat again. He is hoping to rout Congress’ Ariba Khan and Manish Chaudhry of the BJP to retain his seat.
Raaj Kumar Anand, who won the Patel Nagar constituency for the AAP in 2020, is the BJP’s candidate this time. His opponent – Pravesh Ratn, who was in the saffron party in the previous polls, is the AAP contender.
With inputs from agencies
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