New Delhi: As the BJP endeavors to bolster its vote tally and maintain its dominance over Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha constituencies for a third successive cycle, the AAP—participating in the elections through an alliance with the Congress—aims to leverage the “sympathy wave” generated by the detention of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to disrupt the BJP’s unbroken run.
The constituents of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), namely the Congress and the AAP, have united for the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, paving the path for a direct contest with the BJP. The AAP has nominated contenders from four constituencies, while the Congress has nominated from three.
Both the BJP and the AAP-Congress partnership have put forth prominent candidates, creating an intense contest to achieve electoral dominance.
Virendra Sachdeva, the BJP’s Delhi unit head, mentioned that the party’s current challenge is to expand its margin of triumph. The Northeast Delhi constituency, characterized by a substantial Purvanchali and Muslim population, will witness a key battle between two contenders from Bihar. The BJP’s Manoj Tiwari, seeking a third term in the Lok Sabha, faces Congress’s Kanhaiya Kumar, making his electoral debut with the party.
Kumar had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls representing the CPI from the Begusarai seat in Bihar. A BJP leader in Delhi, who chose to remain unnamed, claimed Tiwari holds a strong chance of retaining the seat and remarked that Kumar’s past as a student leader and his affiliation with the Left might cause polarization.
The Congress intends to leverage Kumar’s popularity and oratory prowess to leave a mark on the vital contest ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections in 2025.
In East Delhi, the AAP has nominated Kuldeep Kumar, its Dalit MLA, for the general seat in an attempt to influence voters of the community across the 12 reserved Assembly segments within various Lok Sabha constituencies.
While capitalizing on a direct contest with the BJP, the AAP asserts there is an anti-Modi sentiment among Dalit and Muslim voters in East Delhi, potentially benefiting them electorally in the constituency.
In 2019, Gautam Gambhir secured the seat after defeating the Congress’s Arvinder Singh Lovely by 3.93 lakh votes. The AAP’s Atishi placed third in the race.
This time, the collaboration between AAP and the Congress may consolidate the anti-BJP vote, according to AAP representatives. However, BJP figures in Delhi are confident about maintaining all seven seats held since 2014.
They noted that the vote totals of the BJP candidates in each of the seven seats in 2019 surpassed the combined vote totals of AAP and Congress contenders.
In the 2019 elections, the BJP garnered 56.5% of the votes in the national capital, while the Congress obtained 22%, and the AAP 18.1%.
The saffron party has strived to balance the caste aspect when announcing its candidates—nominating Harsh Malhotra, a Punjabi from East Delhi; Baniya leader Praveen Khandelwal from Chandni Chowk; MLA and Gujjar leader Ramvir Singh Bidhuri from South Delhi; Jat leader Kamaljeet Sehrawat from West Delhi; and Dalit leader Yogendra Chandolia from the reserved North West Delhi seat.
The party has also nominated two female candidates—Sehrawat and Bansuri Swaraj from New Delhi—aiming to garner more female votes, according to BJP representatives.
The AAP seeks to achieve electoral gains by capitalizing on sympathy following Kejriwal’s arrest in a money-laundering case associated with the now-defunct excise policy of the Delhi government.
The party’s campaign also centers on Kejriwal’s detention. Its ‘Jail Ka Jawab Vote Se’ campaign urges voters to respond to Kejriwal’s arrest through their ballots.
Earlier this month, in a conversation with PTI editors at the news agency’s headquarters, Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj stated, “At this juncture, I am uncertain about the status outside Delhi, but I can assert with conviction regarding Delhi that there is significant sympathy among the populace for AAP, Arvind Kejriwal. Even those supporting the BJP believe this is excessive and unwarranted.”
The AAP has also nominated three-time MLA Somnath Bharti from the New Delhi constituency, Sahiram Pehelwan from South Delhi, and Congress’s former MP Mahabal Mishra from West Delhi.
The Congress, announcing its candidates on April 14, nominated veteran leader JP Agarwal from Chandni Chowk and former BJP MP Udit Raj from the reserved Northwest Delhi constituency.
