Delhi set for key battles as BJP releases first list

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its first list of 29 candidates for the upcoming Delhi assembly elections on Saturday, setting up high-profile contests by fielding former parliamentarians on two key seats and announcing the names of four former state cabinet ministers from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress.

- Alok KN Mishra

The party pitted former MP Parvesh Sahib Singh against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi seat and former parliamentarian Ramesh Bidhuri against chief minister Atishi from Kalkaji. It also announced the names of former AAP ministers Kailash Gahlot and Raaj K Anand from Bijwasan and Patel Nagar, former Delhi Congress chief and cabinet minister Arvinder Singh Lovely from Gandhi Nagar, and former Congress minister Raj Kumar Chauhan from Mangolpuri. The BJP also fielded former Congress MLA Tarvinder Singh Marwah against senior AAP leader and former deputy CM Manish Sisodia from Jangpura.

"I thank the BJP leadership for giving me the opportunity to contest the election from New Delhi. I hope that I will live up to the trust that the party has shown in me. We have to save Delhi from 'AAPda' (disaster)...We have to do a lot of work," Parvesh, who is the son of former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, said. He was earlier an MP from the West Delhi Lok Sabha seat.

Kejriwal is seeking his fourth consecutive term from the New Delhi constituency. His debut win over former CM Sheila Dikshit in 2013 by a thumping margin of around 25,000 votes marked a seismic shift in Delhi politics. Subsequent victories in 2015 and 2020 solidified his position in the seat. The Congress has already fielded former MP Sandeep Dikshit, who is the son of three-term CM Sheila Dikshit, from the seat.

Bidhuri, who was earlier a parliamentarian from the South Delhi constituency, said the BJP will register a historic win from Kalkaji as he launched an attack on CM Atishi.

"The departure of anti-national leftist Atishi from Kalkaji is certain. Now, there will be a new beginning of development, trust, and dedication in Kalkaji. A BJP government will come that will give priority to the interests of the people," he said in a post on X. The Congress has fielded its women's wing chief and former MLA Alka Lamba from the constituency.