Lok Sabha polls: May 25 date for Delhi’s 7-star battle

The elections will also present a major litmus test for the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance

Voters in Delhi will elect lawmakers for the city’s seven Lok Sabha constituencies on May 25, the Election Commission of India announced on Saturday, with nearly 15 million electors eligible to exercise their franchise as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition’s INDIA grouping square off in direct contests across the Capital.

Of the seven seats, New Delhi, with 1.48 million electors, is the smallest constituency and West Delhi, with 2.49 million electors, is the largest. (PTI)

The elections will see the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is contesting four seats, and the Congress, contesting the other three, together try to hold off the BJP, which has held a stranglehold over all of Delhi’s seven segments since 2014.

The votes will be counted on June 4.

Analysts said the verdict will hinge on three to four key issues. “ The BJP’s pitches are the alleged ‘corruption’ within the AAP, which subsequently led to the incarceration of AAP leaders, along with Narendra Modi’s leadership — someone who can take hard decisions like removal of Article 370, implement CAA and build the Ram Temple. The AAP in alliance with Congress has pitched issues like ‘transgressions’ by the central government through LG, freebies and welfare social policies related to education and health, and the promise of statehood,” said Tanvir Aeijaz, associate professor of political science at Ramjas College.

The elections will also present a major litmus test for the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

As part of the grouping’s seat-sharing agreement for the Capital, 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 pact is the first such alliance between the two erstwhile rivals.

The BJP and the AAP have named their candidates, even as the Congress is yet to announce any picks. A Congress leader aware of the selection process said the party is likely to announce its candidates next week.

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 again.

BJP Delhi president Virendra Sachdeva said that if voted to power, BJP will “expose the corruption within the Kejriwal government”. “The strength of our organisation and the trust of the people in Prime Minister Narendra Modi gives us the confidence to believe that BJP will sweep the elections winning all seven seats... we will review our electoral strategy to keep intact the synergy of the party workers and keep the momentum of campaign constant... We will expose the corruption, nepotism and failure of development of on the part of the Kejriwal government before the last of the voters,” 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”.

“The AAP works on the real issues of the people and provides facilities to the public. Wherever AAP candidates are contesting in the election field, strengthen our hands by voting on the broom for symbol so that we can work for you with more energy,” said Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The Congress said it would claw back ground in a city that was once its bastion, having ruled the state for three state terms under chief minister Sheila Dikshit. The Congress, meanwhile, urged electors to vote for the party alleging that the incumbent “BJP MPs have done nothing” for their respective areas.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP received 56.6% of the votes. The Congress got 22.51% and the AAP 18.11%.

The city’s voter turnout was 60.60%, compared to the national figure of 67%.

Of the seven seats, New Delhi, with 1.48 million electors, is the smallest constituency and West Delhi, with 2.49 million electors, is the largest.

As of February 1, 2024, the Capital has 14.7 million — nearly 8 million men, 6.7 million women and 1,176 third-genders.

Lok Sabha candidates

For the 2024 elections, BJP has opted for fresh faces (excluding incumbent MP Manoj Tiwari). The seven BJP candidates are the leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri (South Delhi), Bansuri Swaraj (New Delhi), Praveen Khandelwal (Chandni Chowk), Kamaljeet Sehrawat (West Delhi), Harsh Malhotra (East Delhi), Yogendra Chandolia (North West Delhi) and Manoj Tiwari (North East Delhi).

AAP has named four, three of whom are sitting legislators in Delhi — Somnath Bharti (New Delhi), Sahi Ram Pahalwan (South Delhi), Kuldeep Kumar (East Delhi), and Mahabal Mishra (West Delhi).

In New Delhi, the contest will be between two advocates — Bansuri Swaraj, and AAP legislator Somnath Bharti. The South Delhi contest is between two sitting MLAs — Badarpur MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Tughlakabad MLA Sahi Ram Pahalwan. In West Delhi, Sehrawat will face AAP’s Mahabal Mishra, who earlier won the seat on a Congress ticket. In East Delhi, the contest is between sitting Kondli MLA Kuldeep Kumar and former mayor Harsh Malhotra.

The BJP dropped New Delhi MP and Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi, Chandni Chowk MP and former Union minister Harsh Vardhan, North West MP Hans Raj Hans, East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir, South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri and West Delhi MP Pravesh Sahib Singh.

BJP leaders said the move was aimed at neutralising anti-incumbency.

AAP and Congress have been vocal against all seven, alleging they were absent from their constituencies for the past five years — a claim categorically rejected by BJP.

Poll numbers

The state poll panel is conducting a slew of awareness exercises to increase voter turnout this year.

“The last revised electoral roll in Delhi was published on January 22. The revision of the electoral rolls is a continuous exercise and the poll panel uses the last available updated rolls before the elections. The existing electoral roll is being updated so that no eligible voter is left behind, and the updated number of voters will be issued on April 1,” said an election official.

Election issues

Among the many issues that will shape the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, the two important points of contention between the AAP and the BJP are the controversial 2021-22 Delhi excise policy and the confrontation over the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.

In the aftermath of the now-scrapped excise policy, two high-profile AAP leaders — former deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh — were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). While CBI arrested Sisodia as part of their probe into alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the policy, ED arrested Singh for alleged money laundering charges stemming from the CBI probe.

The AAP has consistently denied the allegations against its leaders and called the probes a “witch hunt” on the part of the BJP-led central government which has been “using federal agencies to wipe out the Opposition”.

The BJP has said that the AAP has been trying to “divert attention from the corruption within its party” by accusing the BJP.

In the Delhi Assembly too, the two parties have been at loggerheads owing to governance issues like water supply, sewer overflow, and poor infrastructure, among other things.