At a recent convention of resident welfare associations in Delhi, Somnath Bharti, the Aam Aadmi Party’s candidate from the New Delhi constituency for the Lok Sabha polls, listed interventions made to improve the water situation in the national capital. Invited as chief guest to the function in his capacity as vice chairman of the Delhi Jal Board, Bharti made an overtly political speech. Miffed at the platform being used for scoring political points, a good part of the audience, which used to be the AAP’s strength, loudly chanted ‘Jai Shri Ram’ every time Bharti paused.
With the Lok Sabha elections just round the corner, the AAP, led by its national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has sensed the political mood and has joined hands with the Congress as part of the INDIA bloc to fight together in five states, including Delhi. “There are people in Delhi who have a secular mindset and their vote will not be divided as a result of our alliance,” said four-time Congress MLA Mukesh Sharma. “We will certainly benefit from the seat-sharing arrangement.” Of the seven seats in Delhi, the AAP will contest from four seats leaving three seats for the Congress.
The BJP, meanwhile, continues to bank on the ‘Modi Guarantee’ and takes comfort in the outcome of the two previous general elections. “The people of Delhi showed who they wanted in 2014 and 2019,” said BJP national spokesperson, Shehzad Poonawalla. “Riding a wave created by [anti-corruption campaigner] Anna Hazare, Kejriwal had sworn to send corrupt leaders to jail. Now, he has joined hands with the same leaders in the INDIA alliance. He should first explain this sudden political U-turn to the people of Delhi,” said Poonawalla.
Kejriwal said the victory of all seven INDIA candidates was necessary for him to fight the hurdles caused in his work by the Centre. “Seven wins from Delhi will give me more strength to work for the people of Delhi,” said Kejriwal. “The BJP hates the people of Delhi because an ordinary person like me has been elected chief minister thrice.”
Political observers have mixed views about possible outcomes. “Although the BJP still seems to have the edge, it would be a much tougher contest than 2014 and 2019,” said Abhay K. Dubey, professor at Delhi’s Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. “This is the first time that an alliance has been formed in Delhi which will certainly consolidate minority votes totally in favour of the AAP-Congress.”
Sanjiv Ranjan, assistant professor at Motilal Nehru College (Evening), Delhi, said the Lok Sabha elections were a matter of political survival for the AAP and the Congress. “The dent in the AAP’s image following the corruption cases [is among the reasons behind] the collaboration with the Congress,” he said. While three senior leaders of the AAP are behind bars in the liquor policy case, Kejriwal himself has been summoned eight times by the Enforcement Directorate. “The AAP used to be staunchly against collaborations with parties such as the Congress. Now they are doing it because it has become a question of existence for them,” said Ranjan.
Not surprisingly, the differences in approach among the cadres of the two parties are being felt on the ground. Allaying fears of difficulty in synergising the campaign, Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely said, “The Congress and the AAP would definitely campaign together. We will form a coordination committee and all former ministers will be part of it. They will coordinate the campaigns and public meetings.” Senior Congress leader Subhash Chopra, who would chair the committee, said there would be proper coordination and strategy for joint campaigning.
While the AAP has fielded a mix of new and experienced candidates, the Congress is yet to announce its candidates. The BJP has named five candidates, of which four are newcomers, including Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of former Union minister Sushma Swaraj. Actor-turned-politician Manoj Tiwari is the only sitting MP on the list, so far. An internal survey by the BJP has indicated that a rejig was warranted to take on the AAP-Congress alliance, especially to woo young voters. According to sources, the BJP may ask the snubbed incumbents to focus on the assembly elections due next year. Binay Kumar Singh, senior fellow at the Delhi-based Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, said if someone was not chosen for a particular task, it did not mean that person was out of the political orbit. “Roles may change and some other responsibility may be given.”
Going by the candidates named so far, the electoral battle could be quite intense in three constituencies—South Delhi, West Delhi and New Delhi. The high-profile New Delhi seat will see the two lawyers, Swaraj and Bharti, face off against each other. “We will work hard to ensure that we win over 400 seats,” said Swaraj, who was chosen over Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi. Bharti, who won three consecutive assembly elections from the Malviya Nagar constituency, appears confident about maintaining his winning record.
In West Delhi, the battle is between two veterans. Former Congress MP Mahabal Mishra, a Poorvanchali leader who joined the AAP in 2022, will take on the BJP’s woman candidate, Kamaljeet Sehrawat. Kamaljeet belongs to the Jat community and has been a municipal councillor since 2022.
The South Delhi constituency will see a contest between two Gujjar faces. While the AAP has fielded Tughlakabad MLA Sahiram Pahalwan, the BJP nominee is Delhi assembly’s opposition leader and Badarpur MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, who was chosen over sitting MP Ramesh Bidhuri.
A recent survey showed that 47 per cent of the people in urban areas support the BJP for national elections. The Lok Sabha polls will be an opportunity for the saffron party to validate that point, even as the AAP and the Congress try to buck the trend in Delhi.