The Kalkaji assembly constituency is set to be one of the most closely watched in Delhi.
On Sunday, the BJP released its list of 29 candidates, including Ramesh Bidhuri. Congress officially announced Alka Lamba as their candidate last week, who had previously been elected as an AAP MLA from Chandni Chowk in 2015. Atishi's candidacy was declared by AAP last month.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is backing its former MP, Ramesh Bidhuri, in hopes of winning the seat for the first time since 1993. Meanwhile, the Congress has nominated senior leader Alka Lamba, who previously represented the constituency from 1998 to 2013.
Atishi contested her first assembly election in Kalkaji in 2020, securing nearly 56,000 votes and winning by a margin of over 11,000 votes. While she is a well-known leader in the area, both Alka Lamba and Ramesh Bidhuri, despite having been MLAs in the past, are newcomers to Kalkaji. However, both Lamba and Bidhuri are regarded as senior figures in Delhi politics.
Bidhuri, a three-time MLA from Tughlakabad, won elections in 2003, 2008, and 2013, even when the BJP's overall performance in the city was not strong. He was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Delhi, which includes the Kalkaji constituency, in both 2014 and 2019. However, he was not given a ticket for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Lamba was with the Congress from 1994 to 2014 before joining AAP in 2014. She contested and won the Chandni Chowk seat in 2015. However, before completing her term, she returned to the Congress in 2019. As a Congress candidate, she contested two assembly elections and lost both—first in 2003 from Moti Nagar and again in 2020 from Chandni Chowk.
Atishi, who is contesting from Kalkaji for the second time, represents AAP, which also won the seat in 2015 when Avtar Singh was elected. If AAP wins again, it will mark the third time the party claims the seat.
Since 1993, the Kalkaji seat has seen seven elections, with Congress winning three times and AAP twice. The Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP each secured one victory.
The Kalkaji seat is crucial for all three parties. Although Atishi is relatively new to politics, she has emerged as a key leader in her party over the past two years, especially after being appointed to the cabinet as AAP’s first woman minister and later when she was chosen by Arvind Kejriwal to replace him as the potential Chief Minister.
For the Congress, which has not won any seats in Delhi since 2015, a victory in Kalkaji would not only mark its return to the assembly but also provide Alka Lamba with an opportunity to take revenge on AAP.
The BJP, while consistently winning a few seats in Delhi, has not been able to form a government since 1998. Although the party had the chance to form a government after the 1993 elections, it has struggled since then. A win for Ramesh Bidhuri would elevate his stature as a leader and strengthen the BJP's position in its ongoing rivalry with AAP.
The current assembly term is set to conclude next month, and elections will take place before that.
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