Big challenge in front of Kejriwal, Sisodia and Atishi, preparation for interesting contests

The political atmosphere has heated up even before the dates of Delhi Assembly elections were announced. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress have started finalizing their preparations. Especially the contest on the three most popular seats of Delhi – New Delhi, Jangpura, and Kalkaji is going to be very interesting and tough this time.

New Delhi seat: Kejriwal vs Verma vs Dixit

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is contesting from New Delhi seat for the fourth time, will face the sons of two former Chief Ministers this time.

• BJP: Sahib Singh Verma’s son Pravesh Verma has been given the ticket.
• Congress: Sheila Dikshit’s son Sandeep Dikshit is in the fray.

A look at past performance

In the 2020 elections, Arvind Kejriwal had won this seat by a huge margin of 21,697 votes. At that time BJP and Congress had fielded relatively weak candidates.

• BJP: Sunil Kumar Yadav.
• Congress: Romesh Sabarwal.

Highlights of the current competition

This time BJP and Congress have made the contest triangular by fielding their senior leaders.

• Pravesh Verma: Verma, a former BJP MP and student leader, has created a stir with initiatives like ‘Laadli Yojana’.
• Sandeep Dixit: Presenting the challenge with the help of the image and sympathy of his mother Sheila Dixit.

This election will not be as easy for Kejriwal as 2020. Arising from the anti-corruption movement, Kejriwal will now have to re-prove his honest leadership image.

Jangpura seat: Tough fight for Sisodia

Manish Sisodia, who had won from Patparganj seat in 2020, is contesting from Jangpura seat this time.

• Congress: Farhad Suri.
• BJP: Sardar Tarvinder Singh Marwah.

Caste equation of the seat and strength of candidates

Jangpura seat has a large population of Muslim and Sikh voters.

• Farhad Suri: Son of Congress leader Tajdar Babar, who has been elected councilor from Nizamuddin ward several times.
• Tarvinder Marwah: Three-time MLA from Jangpura and joined BJP in 2022.

Both the parties have made Sisodia’s path difficult by fielding candidates from particular communities.

Kalkaji seat: Atishi vs Alka Lamba vs Ramesh Bidhuri

Atishi, who won the Kalkaji seat in 2020 by a margin of 11,000 votes, is facing a tough challenge this time.

• Congress: Alka Lamba.
• BJP: Ramesh Bidhuri.

Major Candidates’ Strategy

• Alka Lamba: The fiery woman leader of the Congress, who has taken up the task of creating a split in the anti-BJP votes.
• Ramesh Bidhuri: Strong leader of South Delhi, who is engaged in door-to-door campaigning.

competition analysis

If Alka Lamba is successful in dividing the anti-BJP votes in the triangular contest, then this election could be very difficult for Atishi.

Strategy of BJP and Congress

• BJP: Is contesting the elections with full strength to end the period without power of almost three decades.
• Congress: The party, which was reduced to zero in the last two elections, has fielded veteran candidates and indicated that this time the contest is of “do or die”.

The aim of both parties is to keep the three biggest leaders of AAP—Kejriwal, Sisodia, and Atishi—in their seats, so that they can pay less attention to the other seats.