Like 2014, Delhi to witness triangular contest this time
NEW DELHI: Just like 2014, this year too Delhi will witness a triangular election. While AAP looks at the demand of full statehood, youth faces and Delhi government works, BJP and Congress kept their focuses on the loyalists.
The ongoing speculation over the Congress-aap alliance came to a pause after the Congress party on Monday announced its 6 out of 7 candidates for Delhi. The BJP on Sunday announced 4 out of 7 seats where they have given tickets to all the sitting MPS from their respective constituencies. Later on Monday, the saffron party fielded former cricketer Gautam Gambhir from the East Delhi constituency and renominated Meenakshi Lekhi from New Delhi. The AAP has already announced all the candidates months back.
In the last election in 2014 after the 49 days government of the AAP, the BJP won from all the seven seats. This year the North East Delhi seats would become a star seat as both Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari and Delhi Pradesh Congress chief former Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit will fight from this seat. Popular AAP face Dilip Pandey is also fighting from this seat.
Showing its intent to take the battle seriously, Congress has thrown its entire might into the election. It has fielded three-term former chief minister Sheila Dikshit from North East Delhi. After a nearly fiveyear hiatus following her loss in the 2013 assembly election, Dikshit returned to the Delhi party unit as president in January this year.
While, the AAP candidates are already in the field from the last seven months, the Congress and BJP will start their campaign from this week. The issues Congress will focus on are jobs and development. But due to the triangular contest, the Congress will have to raise the issues against both BJP and the AAP. However, the BJP has decided to fight the election in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP will focus on the schemes and works done by the BJP government in the Centre.
The AAP will keep its focus on the full statehood demand. The AAP has combined the issues of higher education, law and order and job with the issue of the full-statehood. Meanwhile, both Congress and BJP have no local or Delhi-based issues to fight on.
According to the surveys, the vote base of the AAP is of the Congress which made the Congress party lose the last Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections in Delhi.
Right now, the BJP has not announced the name of candidate from North West seat. The Congress has yet not announed the name of the candidate from the South Delhi.