New Delhi, January 4, 2025-The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its first list of 29 candidates for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections today, signaling the start of a high-octane election battle in the national capital.
A high-point of the announcement is that Parvesh Verma has been fielded against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the New Delhi constituency.
Key Contests and Candidate Profiles
Parvesh Verma, the sitting Member of Parliament from West Delhi and son of former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma, will face Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal. The candidacy of Verma is a pointer to BJP’s plan of putting up strong candidates against AAP’s leadership.
Expressing gratitude for the confidence shown in him by the party leadership, Verma stated, “I hope that the trust that the party has shown in me, I’ll live up to it.”
Ramesh Bidhuri, the Member of Parliament from South Delhi, will take on the challenge from AAP’s Atishi in the Kalkaji constituency. Stylizing Bidhuri as a former member of Parliament for the assembly elections, he is expected to bring his parliamentary experience to bear on the state Assembly elections.
Other candidates, such as Dushyant Gautam for Karol Bagh, Manjinder Singh Sirsa for Rajouri Garden, and Kailash Gahlot for Bijwasan, have also been on the list. The most noteworthy is that instead of the sitting MLA Anil Bajpayee from Gandhi Nagar, the party opted for ex-Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely-a decision that clearly appears meant to enhance its electoral performance.
Strategic Implications
The selection of candidates by the BJP denotes a strategy that aims to reclaim some clout in the political community within Delhi, which has encumbered the party in previous assembly elections.
It assigned candidates of high repute in the forms of Verma and Bidhuri to rally the support of the party activists in presenting strong alternatives against the incumbent government.
The fact that Arvinder Singh Lovely, who is a former chief of the Delhi Congress, is standing from the BJP, rejoining the party, shows the BJP’s intentions of attracting seasoned politicians with substantial local sway. This is expected to fortify the BJP’s standing across the spectrum of voters in the capital.
Next, with the start of polls, there will be multi-party, big-fights in the fray- the major contingents being the BJP, AAP and the Congress.
It will be here to recall that AAP had trounced, with an enormous 62 seats out of 70 in the 2020 elections; the BJP had made it to just eight and the Congress could not procure even a single seat in the operation.
Some names are out from AAP already-Kejriwal for New Delhi and Atishi from Kalkaji. The campaign seems set to revolve around governance and achievements in education, healthcare, and public services.
The Congress wants to come back into Delhi politics by announcing its list. It includes both seasoned and fresh candidates. The party’s strategy seems to surround local issues and a general proposition of itself as a viable alternative to AAP and BJP.
Delhi in the forthcoming polls shall see no less than a bitter fight amongst all players as everyone will enter into an all-out campaign mode.
The BJP will speak more on national policies and achievements of the Centre, as against AAP, who will work on local governance achievements. The Congress shall try for goodwill through its attempts to at least touch the grassroots and pledge for efficient governance.
The Delhi elections will determine the next state government and set the political temperature of city centers across India. With strategic clashes between high-profile contestants in significant constituencies, Delhi Assembly elections are poised to become a major entry under the politics of the nation.
