Delhi Assembly Elections 2015: Top 10 Big Fights
January 23, 2015
With 923 candidates filing their nominations and campaigning reaching its peak for the 70-member Delhi Assembly, the Capital City has geared up for February 7 elections that would make or break many hopes. In the 2013 elections, though 1,150 nominations were filed, only 810 remained in the fray after withdrawals.0
Stakes are high for many including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and top contender for the chief minister’s post Arvind Keriwal; the CM face for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Kiran Bedi; as well as the chairman of Congress campaign committee, Ajay Maken. Following are some of the key constituencies that would have a decisive impact on the race for power in Delhi :
1. New Delhi:
Once the home constituency of former CM Sheila Dikshit, she met her Waterloo here in 2013 here after winning the seat three times in a row for her 15 years of uninterrupted rule. It was Kejriwal who earned the reputation of a giant killer by defeating the sitting chief minister by a comfortable margin of 25,864 votes at her citadel in 2013.
As Kejriwal seeks to retain the seat this time again, he faces a tough challenge from the Congress veteran Kiran Walia, who had a knack of winning from different constituencies (twice from Hauz Khas and then from Malviya Nagar) till she surprisingly lost to AAP’s Somnath Bharti from Malviya Nagar last time.
The BJP has sprung a surprise by fielding a first timer – former Delhi University Students’ Union President Nupur Sharma – from the prestigious constituency this time. Her name though, was in contention even last time but the party had then settled on fielding veteran Vijender Gupta against Dikshit and Kejriwal. Gupta, who had then stood third by polling 17952 votes, is now trying his luck from Rohini.
How young Nupur, the thirty-year-old trained lawyer, would fare against Kejriwal and Walia is to be seen. All eyes though would be on Kejriwal. His as well as the AAP’s future very much depends on the election result of New Delhi constituency which has already attracted the largest number of nominations (total 23).
2. Krishna Nagar:
The home of Union minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, who was the BJP’s CM face in the 2013 election, is again in the limelight because of the candidature of super-cop turned BJP’s trump card Kiran Bedi from here. She is pitted against the Congress’ Bansilal, who is an Independent sitting councillor and AAP’s SK Bagga, a former Congressman. Bansilal’s candidature has reportedly generated much protest within the Congress.
Bedi, despite being an icon in her own rights, has no past experience of electoral politics. She would largely be banking on Dr Harsh Vardhan’s reputation and the BJP’s impeccable record in this constituency as well. It would be crucial for her to earn the confidence of the party cadre, as many still consider her as an outsider.
Dr Vardhan had been representing the Constituency since 1993. Last time he had won against his nearest Congress rival, Dr Vinod Kumar Monga, by an impressive margin of 43,150 votes and had secured 69,222 votes.
3. Sadar Bazar:
Much of the Congress’ fortunes in Delhi now hinges on its candidate from Sadar Bazar Assembly segment and former Union minister, Ajay Maken. He has replaced Rajesh Jain, who had stood a third in a tightly contested last election, where the difference between the winner and Jain was less than 3,000 votes.
Maken is pitted against AAP’s Somdutt, who had won last time against his nearest rival, Jai Parkash, by a narrow margin of just 796 seats. This time though, even the BJP has replaced Jai Parkash with Praveen Jain, husband of a sitting Councillor.
Maken, as the chairman of the Congress’ Campaign Committee, shoulders the responsibility of pulling out the party from the mess that it is in right now in Delhi. The party, after ruling the city-state for 15 years, faced the ignominy of almost total rejection by the voters in 2013, when it could win just eight of the 70 assembly seats.
This time again, with different factions rising heads and the city Congress President Arvinder Singh Lovely refusing to contest, Maken has a task in hand. He himself had failed to retain his New Delhi Parliamentary seat in last summer’s General Elections wherein he lost to BJP’s Meenakshi Lekhi.
Maken though is a formidable Congress face in Delhi. He became the Delhi Assembly Speaker in 2004 at the age of 39 – the country’s youngest. Besides being a two-time MP from the New Delhi Constituency in 2004 and 2009, he was an MLA for three successive terms in 1993, 1998 and 2003.
4. Patel Nagar:
The candidature of former Union minister in the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and a prominent dalit face of Delhi, Krishna Tirath, from this scheduled caste reserved constituency has made the contest interesting in Patel Nagar Assembly. Tirath deserted the Congress at the eleventh hour and was immediately given the BJP ticket from Patel Nagar.
Last time it was Veena Anand of AAP, who had won by defeating her nearest BJP rival, Poornima Vidyarthi, by a margin of 6,262 votes. This time, though, the AAP has replaced Anand with Hazari Lal Chauhan.
Can Tirath annex the seat from AAP? In any case, her presence may consolidate the sizeable dalit votes for the BJP.
5. Jangpura:
The defection of the former Delhi Assembly Speaker, Maninder Singh Dhir from the AAP to the BJP has made the contest interesting in Jangpura Assembly seat. It may be mentioned that the BJP had stood third in the constituency last time and its candidate, Pankaj Jain, could poll only 23.61 per cent of the total votes polled.
Last time, Dhir, as the AAP candidate got 36.95 votes and defeated his nearest Congress rival Tarwinder Singh Marwah by a narrow margin of 1,744 votes.
This time the AAP has fielded Praveen Kumar, an India Against Corruption volunteer, against its former member while the Congress has retained Marwah.
6. Patparganj:
Another ‘AAP versus AAP’ battle is being watched with interest at Patparganj where the AAP heavyweight Manish Sisodia is pitted against his former colleague Vinod Kumar Binny, who not just switched the party and joined the BJP, but also his constituency. Binny had won from Laxmi Nagar as an AAP candidate last time.
The Congress candidate against them is Anil Kumar, who had stood third last time by polling 23.21 per cent votes as against Sisodia’s 41.53 per cent votes.
7. Laxmi Nagar:
The stronghold of Congress’s veteran Dr Ashok Kumar Walia, who had never lost the seat since 1993, the constituency sprung a surprise in the last election when it elected AAP’s Vinod Kumar Binny.
Binny had then polled 43,052 votes defeated and Walia by a margin of 7,752 votes. While Binny recently joined the BJP and is now contesting from neighbouring Patparganj, Walia is back in contention. He is pitted against BJP’s BB Tyagi, a sitting municipal councillor, while the AAP has now fielded Nitin Tyagi, who is the party’s East Delhi in-charge.
8. Malviya Nagar:
The constituency was much in news for wrong reasons during the brief spell of AAP government in Delhi. The AAP minister Somnath Bharti, who represented Malviya Nagar, created a controversy by raiding a house in his constituency claiming that a prostitution racket involving African nationals was being run from there. He claimed the police was not supporting him and this prompted the then CM, Kejriwal to sit on a dharna at Raisina Hills.
Bharti is back as the AAP candidate from Malaviya Nagar against Congress veteran and a former Delhi minister, Dr Yoganand Shastri. The BJP has fielded Nandani Sharma instead of last year’s runner-up, Aarti Mehra whom Bharti had defeated by a margin of 7772 votes.
9. Janak Puri:
A stronghold of BJP veteran and leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly last time, Jagdish Mukhi,Janak Puri has been a crucial seat for the BJP. Just before the elections were announced, the AAP had publicised Mukhi as the possible BJP CM face, much to the chagrin of the BJP. The AAP move had forced Mukhi to serve a legal notice to them.
The AAP is chancing its arm here this time as last time Mukhi could win against its nearest AAP rival, Rajesh Rishi, by slender margin of 2,644 votes. Rishi is again in the contention this time while the Congress has fielded Suresh Kumar, who happens to be Mukhi’s son-in-law .
10. Greater Kailash:
The posh Greater Kailash constituency is in the limelight this time because President Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter, Sharmishtha Mukherjee, is contesting her first elections from here as a Congress candidate. She is pitted against Saurabh Bharadwaj of the AAP and Rakesh Gulia of the BJP. Last time it was Bharadwaj, who had won the seat by defeating his nearest rival from the BJP, Ajay Kumar Malhotra, by an impressive margin of 13,092 votes. In the process, Bharadwaj had also demolished the myth that the AAP did not have the support of upper strata of society.
The Congress could manage just 20.70 per cent votes as against the winner’s 45.26 per cent votes atGreater Kailash then. Obviously, the President’s daughter has a big task ahead of her in GK.
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