Delhi Lok Sabha elections: A look at the 7 high-stakes poll battles

Bansuri Swaraj, Manoj Tiwari, Mahabal Mishra, Kanhiaya Kumar, Somnath Bharti and Udit Raj are among the key candidates in Delhi

Battle lines are drawn in Delhi for all the 7 Lok Sabha seats which are voting in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 25.

The result of Lok Sabha elections here usually aligns with the national trend since Delhi has several bellwether constituencies who more often than not pick the party that goes on to form the government at the Centre.

In both 2014 and 2019, BJP swept the elections in the national capital and pushed its rivals AAP and Congress to the margins. In 2024, BJP is facing a united challenge from AAP and Congress who are contesting as part of the INDIA bloc. AAP has fielded candidates in 4 seats while Congress is contesting on 3.

The 2024 electoral clash has been dominated by the high drama surrounding the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who has mounted a no-holds-barred offensive on BJP since he was given temporary bail to campaign for his party.

Here is the battle card for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Delhi:

* In New Delhi, BJP has fielded Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of late Union minister Sushma Swaraj, against AAP's Somnath Bharti. Both Bansuri and Somnath are lawyers. Bansuri, a newcomer in politics, has led a fiery campaign against AAP and is a vocal critic of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. On the other hand, Bharti is a veteran politician who has been a three-MLA from Malviya Nagar - a constituency that falls under the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat. Several prominent leaders have represented this prestigious seat in the past, including late ex-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and ex-deputy PM Lal Krishna Advani.

* North East Delhi, an area dominated by Purvanchali voters, will see a high-profile face-off between two heavyweights from Bihar: BJP's Manoj Tiwari (incumbent) and Congress's Kanhaiya Kumar. Kumar, a student leader from JNU, forayed into politics in 2019 and contested unsuccessfully as a CPI candidate from Bihar's Begusarai. He is known for his oratory skills and made a controversial speech at JNU that led to his arrest in 2016. Tiwari, on the other hand, is a popular Bhojpuri actor who has been the face of Delhi BJP for the last few years. He is the only sitting MP in Delhi being repeated by BJP in 2024.

* East Delhi will see a direct clash between BJP’s Harsh Malhotra and AAP's Kuldeep Kumar. Malhotra is contesting his maiden polls and earlier served as the mayor of the then East Delhi Municipal Corporation. Kumar is the incumbent MLA from Kondli, which falls under the East Delhi seat. In 2019, the seat saw an intense triangular clash between BJP's Gautam Gambhir, Congress's Arvinder Singh Lovely and AAP's Atishi. None of them are contesting the polls in 2024.

* North West Delhi will see a clash between Congress's Udit Raj and BJP's Yogendra Chandolia. Notably, BJP dropped its incumbent Hans Raj Hans from the seat and fielded him from Punjab's Faridkot in 2024. Chandolia, 62, is a Dalit leader who has held several key posts in the past, including that of North Delhi mayor. Udit Raj, a former IRS officer, won the seat as a BJP candidate in 2014. He switched to Congress in 2019.

* In Chandni Chowk, which is known as a bellwether seat in Delhi, BJP has fielded Praveen Khandelwal against Congress's Jai Prakash Agarwal. Khandelwal is a businessman who enjoys a good reputation among the traders in the area. He is replacing former Union minister Harsh Vardhan. Meanwhile. AAP's Agarwal is a veteran politician who has served as an MP from Chandni Chowk thrice (1984, 1989 and 1996). Khandelwal is depending on his long-standing ties with traders and the work he has done for the business community. Agarwal, who has grown up in the region, is banking on his years of experience and ground work.

* South Delhi Lok Sabha seat, known as a BJP bastion, will see a keen clash between two Gurjars. BJP has nominated Ramvir Singh Bidhuri (71) from the seat while AAP's challenger is Sahiram Pehalwan (64). Bidhuri is from the Gurjar community and is the leader of opposition in Delhi assembly. Sahiram is a two-time AAP MLA from Tughlakabad in Delhi. In 2019, AAP's Raghav Chadha lost from the seat to BJP's Ramesh Bidhuri. Encroachment is one of the key issues in this seat.

* In West Delhi, veteran Congress leader Mahabal Mishra is contesting on an AAP ticket. He is facing a challenge from BJP's Kamaljeet Sehrawat. Mishra is a notable Purvanchali face in the area who represented the seat in 2009. In both 2014 and 2019, he lost to BJP's Parvesh Verma. BJP's Sehrawat was a district vice-president and the chief of the party's Delhi Mahila Morcha. She has replaced Verma, who was reportedly dropped for making controversial statements in the past. The AAP has a strong presence in this region and won all 10 assembly segments falling under it in the 2020 Delhi elections.