Delhi assembly elections to be a three-cornered contest

The entry of the Congress in the poll fray had turned the table topsy-turvy as now the elections in Delhi will be a three-cornered contest. The votes Congress gets would decide who wins the Delhi polls ---- the BJP or AAP.

Updated on: Jan 21, 2015, 17:45:31 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Delhi election will be different from the recently concluded state assembly polls where the BJP had an edge over its rivals on account of high anti-incumbency of its opponents. In Delhi, the situation is different; BJP that is facing some anti-incumbency as it runs three municipal corporations and Delhi government was also under its control (President’s rule) since June 2014. Amid it, the BJP has a star vote catcher of 2014 --- Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The contest in Delhi primarily appeared between the BJP and Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party but the Congress, which has been in power for 15 years, has emerged as a late entrant. The polling in Delhi will take place on January 10.

The grand old party of India is likely to announce former Union minister Ajay Maken as its face in Delhi and may field some stalwarts such Mahabal Mishra and Krishna Tirath as party candidates. The three had lost in the Lok Sabha polls held in April to May this year. The Congress believes that these leaders can at least win their seats so that the party can prevent complete decimation in the assembly polls.

The Aam Aadmi Party had taken a head-start by announcing its candidates for all 70 seats of Delhi assembly. Arvind Kejriwal started his focus for Delhi elections soon after the Lok Sabha polls and has held over 70 rallies and meetings. He has been most visible face on Delhi streets after the Lok Sabha polls and had considered the BJP its primary rival.

But, the Congress has now emerged as a serious contender and has also announced some of the candidates. The serious entry of the Congress in the poll fray had turned the table topsy-turvy as now the elections in Delhi will be a three-cornered contest. The votes Congress gets would decide who wins the Delhi polls ---- the BJP or AAP.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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