A total of 699 candidates are set to contest the elections for 70 Delhi Assembly seats on February 5, according to the Election Commission (EC).
The deadline for submitting nominations was January 17, with scrutiny completed on January 18 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations being January 20, the EC stated.
The New Delhi constituency, where former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is contesting, has the highest number of candidates at 23. The BJP has fielded Parvesh Verma, son of former CM Sahib Singh Verma, while the Congress has nominated Sandeep Dikshit, son of former CM Sheila Dikshit, for this seat.
Patel Nagar and Kasturba Nagar have the fewest candidates, with just five each. Other constituencies with six candidates include Tilak Nagar, Karol Bagh, Gandhi Nagar, Greater Kailash, Mangol Puri, and Tri Nagar, as per EC data.
Key candidates in the Greater Kailash seat include AAP’s Saurabh Bhardwaj, BJP’s Shikha Rai, and Congress’ Garvit Singhvi. In Kasturba Nagar, the main contenders are AAP’s Ramesh Pahalwan, BJP’s Neeraj Basoya, and Congress’ Abhishek Dutt.
As polling day nears, Delhi’s political scene is intensifying. The BJP has accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of fielding the highest number of candidates with criminal records, despite AAP’s earlier stance against such practices.
“Aam Aadmi Party used to say that they do not want criminals in their assembly because criminals will not be able to pass important and strict laws. But when the list (of candidates) was released, it was found that the Aam Aadmi Party has the highest number of people with criminal records — nearly 60%, followed by Congress. This means that Aam Aadmi Party has taken a U-turn once again,” BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla told ANI.
The single-phase polling for Delhi’s 70 assembly seats will take place on February 5, with votes to be counted on February 8.
The Congress, which held power in Delhi for 15 consecutive years, has faced severe setbacks in the last two assembly elections, failing to win a single seat. In contrast, AAP dominated both the 2015 and 2020 elections, winning 67 and 62 seats, respectively, out of 70, while the BJP secured only three seats in 2015 and eight in 2020.
