Delhi polls on February 5, AAP, BJP, Congress exude confidence

POLLING for all 70 assembly seats in Delhi will be held on February 5 and the votes counted on February 8, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced on Tuesday.

Bypolls to two assembly constituencies - Milkipur in Uttar Pradesh and Erode in Tamil Nadu - will also be held according to the same schedule while that in two constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir - Budgam and Nagrota - will be held later due to the current snowy conditions.

The last date to file nominations is January 17 and the scrutiny of nominations will be done by January 18.

Candidates will be able to withdraw their nominations till January 20.

"It is a single-phase election… We have deliberately kept polling on a Wednesday so more people come out to vote… like we did in Maharashtra. The entire election process will be completed by February 10," Kumar said at a press conference.

Of the 70 seats in Delhi, 58 are general and 12 reserved.

In the 2020 polls, AAP won 62 seats and the BJP eight while the Congress drew a blank.

Leaders confident

Meanwhile, the leaders of the three principal contenders for the Delhi Assembly exuded confidence about winning next month's polls.

All India Mahila Congress president Alka Lamba said, "I appeal to the people to participate in large numbers in this festival of democracy. Your single vote can play a crucial role in solving the issues you face."

Lamba is the Congress candidate against chief minister Atishi from the Kalkaji seat.

The BJP's North West Delhi MP Yogender Chandolia also expressed confidence about his party's victory.

"We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally, BJP workers are determined and ready to fight the elections. We are preparing to wash away the stain of all these years," he said.

The BJP MP was referring to Modi's January 5 rally in Rohini during which he had hit out at the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, which he again attacked with the "aapda (disaster)" jibe, and said, "Only one voice is reverberating in Delhi - 'Aapda nahi sahenge, badal kar rahenge (will not tolerate disaster, will bring change)'."

Slamming the Delhi government, Chandolia asserted that it would be held accountable for its performance during the past decade.

"The Delhi government will have to answer for what it has done in the past 10 years," he said.

He also said AAP leaders' recent announcements were a result of their realisation that they had not done enough. "The residents of Delhi are demanding answers for the false promises they made."

He also hit out at former chief minister Kejriwal, highlighting recent controversies surrounding his leadership.

"We are committed to these elections. The BJP will form the government here and our chief minister will be appointed," the MP said.

Meanwhile, AAP supremo Kejriwal said the Delhi polls would will be a contest between the "politics of work and politics of abuse" and asserted that his party would form the government in the national capital.

"This election will be between the politics of work and the politics of abuse. The people of Delhi will have faith in our politics of work. We will definitely win," Kejriwal said in a post on X. (PTI)