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Delhi poll body releases final list of candidates: 162 in fray for seven Lok Sabha seats
Fourteen key candidates from BJP and AAP-Congress alliance vie for Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seats. 162 candidates remain after withdrawals. Polls on May 25.
Fourteen key candidates, seven each from the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-Congress alliance, are in the fray for the seven Lok Sabha constituencies of Delhi as the last day of withdrawal of nominations closed on Thursday leaving. A total of 162 candidates contesting for the seven seats.
Two hundred and sixty five candidates filed nominations for the seven seats between April 29 and May 6 out of which the nominations of 99 were rejected due to deficiencies in their forms. Of the 166 candidates, four withdrew their nominations, leaving 162 candidates contesting from the seven seats for the May 25 polls, according to Delhi poll panel officials.
Full coverage of Lok Sabha Election 2024
The elections will largely be a direct contest between the BJP, holding the seven seats of Delhi since 2014, and the AAP-Congress alliance.
According to a statement released by the office of the chief electoral officer of Delhi, North East Delhi has the highest number of candidates, followed by North West Delhi, Chandni Chowk, West Delhi, South Delhi, East Delhi, and New Delhi.
Delhi has 15,201,936 voters eligible to exercise their franchise during the Lok Sabha elections — an increase of 885,483 electors compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
As part of the seat-sharing agreement for Delhi, the AAP will contest the East Delhi, New Delhi, South Delhi and West Delhi seats, while the Congress will contest Chandni Chowk, North East Delhi and North West Delhi. The votes will be counted on June 4.
Poll prep
The state poll panel said it is taking multiple measures to ensure the heat wave does not discourage people from voting. “Almost all the election arrangements are complete, we have 13,637 polling stations. We will deploy over 100,000 personnel including volunteers. The voting will happen on May 25 from 7am to 6pm across 13,637 stations at 2,627 locations across the seven constituencies,” said Delhi chief electoral officer P Krishnamurthy.
Krishnamurthy said the body has met stakeholders including the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to prepare for heatwave conditions. “Heatwave conditions have been predicted during elections… In anticipation of this, adequate arrangements have been made to ensure the comfort and safety of voters. We have directed the stakeholders concerned to equip every polling station with safe drinking water and properly shaded waiting areas with air coolers, essential medical kits, and supplies,” Krishnamurthy added.
Experts, politicians speak
Political observers said the Lok Sabha election verdict will hinge on three to four key issues in the Capital.
“With relatively low intensity in campaigns this time, Delhi seems to be gearing up for the elections scheduled in the last phase. BJP’s pitch is focused on PM Modi’s leadership — particularly on the national issues of abrogation of Article 370, CAA, 33% reservation for women, Ram temple and the call for Viksit Bharat. The AAP and Congress are focusing on saving democracy and misuse of political institutions, particularly ED and CBI. For the INDIA bloc, issues in their campaigns are more in sync with their respective manifestos and national debates. The deeper local issues have taken a somewhat backseat this time. Pollution is not on the agenda of any party,” said Tanvir Aeijaz, associate professor of political science at Ramjas College.
The elections will also present a major litmus test for the INDIA bloc. Spokespersons for the BJP, which dropped six of its seven sitting MPs, said it was confident that Narendra Modi’s record as Prime Minister would see the party sweep the Capital for the third time.
BJP Delhi president Virendra Sachdeva said the BJP was going to win all the seven Lok Sabha seats of the Capital as people want PM Narendra Modi to come back to power once again for which they are going to give BJP over 400 seats in the country.
“The strength of our organisation and the trust of the people in Modi, the work that the Modi government has done to transform India and the welfare policies the government has introduced give us the confidence to believe that BJP will sweep the elections in Delhi and the country. The BJP candidates are very strong, our campaign is going very well. The corruption of the AAP has been exposed and the divisive agenda of the Congress is out in the open,” said Sachdeva.
The AAP, which has yet to win a parliamentary segment in Delhi since it was formed in 2012, however, appealed to the people to “vote against dictatorship”.
Delhi AAP convenor Gopal Rai said the AAP-Congress campaigns are stronger than the BJP’s and the AAP is united despite the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal. “The way the people of Delhi, the volunteers of the AAP, have come together to fight their dictatorship, the AAP has only become stronger. In the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, many people of Delhi thought that AAP did not have a big stake in the Lok Sabha election and they used to shift away during the Lok Sabha polls. But the arrest has turned things around. Now voters who earlier shifted away from AAP, have decided to stick with Kejriwal,” said Gopal Rai.
Spokespersons of the Congress, which received a blow after its Delhi unit chief Arvinder Singh Lovely joined the BJP, said it will claw back ground in a city that was once its bastion. Delhi Congress leader Anil Bharadwaj said the promises made in the Congress manifesto, particularly the Mahalakshmi scheme under ₹1 lakh per year will be provided to every poor family as an unconditional cash transfer are drawing the those hit by inflation and unemployment. “The people are fighting to protect the democracy and saving the Constitution. INDIA will win all the seats in Delhi and form the next government at the Centre,” said Bharadwaj.
