Delhi Election: Patparganj, New Delhi and beyond — key battles playing out in the Capital

Delhi is heading for polls to elect a new Legislative Assembly. While voting will happen in a single phase on February 8, counting of votes will happen on February 11.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is aiming to retain power in the national capital amid a challenge from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Indian National Congress, which had governed Delhi for three terms between 1998 and 2013, is hoping to spring a surprise after failing to win a single seat in 2015.

Also read: It's AAP vs BJP in the national capital; can Congress pull off a surprise?

Here are the key constituencies and interesting battles playing out in Delhi:

New Delhi: CM Kejriwal is hoping to retain his Assembly constituency New Delhi. However, he is facing a challenge from 27 other candidates.

This constituency has the highest number of contenders. In fact, Kejriwal had to wait for many hours while filing his nomination as many had queued before him.

BJP and Congress have, however, fielded Sunil Yadav and Romesh Sabharwal, respectively. Yadav is BJP’s state Yuva Morcha President and got senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to campaign for him.

Sabharwal has been associated with the National Students Union of India (NSUI) and the Youth Congress.

Patparganj: The seat in eastern Delhi is currently held by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is also fighting to retain it.

He is being challenged by BJP’s Ravinder Singh Negi and Laxman Rawat.

Union Home Minister Shah held a road show here on February 3 in support of the BJP candidate. CM Kejriwal campaigned for Sisodia on the same day.

Chandni Chowk: AAP has fielded Parlad Singh Sawhney from this seat in the Old Delhi area. It was won by Alka Lamba in 2015. Lamba is now Congress’ candidate there.

BJP has fielded Suman Kumar Gupta who had unsuccessfully challenged Lamba in 2015. Sawhney had contested the previous election on a Congress ticket.

Model Town: This is another seat that is being hotly contested. BJP has fielded Kapil Mishra, who is a former AAP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Karawal Nagar. Mishra had quit the AAP and had joined the BJP in 2019 and disqualified from the Legislative Assembly under the anti-defection law.

He is challenging sitting AAP MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi. Congress had fielded Akansha Ola.

Also read: People voting differently at Centre and state levels — what it means for the national capital

Of these, New Delhi, Patparganj and Model Town are bellwether seats based on the previous three election results — as the last delimitation happened in 2008. By definition, a constituency that votes for the political party which eventually forms the government is called a bellwether seat.

While there is no scientific basis to this, bellwether constituencies usually act as a marker for the final results.

There are 15 other seats where voters opted for political parties that eventually formed the government. These constituencies are: Timarpur, Mangol Puri, Sadar Bazar, Patel Nagar, Madipur, Vikaspuri, Jangpura, Kasturba Nagar, Malviya Nagar, Deoli, Ambedkar Nagar, Kondli, Laxmi Nagar, Seemapuri and Rohtas Nagar.

The candidates in these bellwether constituencies are: