Home to some of the country’s top political leaders, bureaucrats, judges and industrialists, New Delhi has always been a high-profile constituency. But the stakes are even higher this time, with a former chief minister pitted against the sons of two former CMs.
To defeat Aam Aadmi Party chief and three-time CM Arvind Kejriwal, the Congress has fielded two-time parliamentarian Sandeep Dikshit, son of former CM Sheila Dikshit, while the BJP has put its weight behind former MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, son of former CM Sahib Singh.
Civic issues, infrastructure problems, and corruption feature prominently in this high-octane political battle. While the BJP has charged AAP of “betraying the poor” and rebuilding an “extravagant palace for the chief minister", the AAP has accused the saffron party of not letting the state government work . The Congress has accused both the AAP and the BJP of making false promises.
But how is this triangular fight playing out in New Delhi?
Sandeep Dikshit’s door-to-door outreach
“Main Sandeep Dikshit. Main Congress candidate hoon. Main apka aur apki family ka vote mangne aaya hoon [I am Sandeep Dikshit. I am the Congress candidate. I have come to seek yours and your family’s vote],” the Congress leader introduced himself to every household as he went around handing over his single-page biodata in New Delhi’s Gole Market area, where Newslaundry had joined Dikshit’s door-to-door campaign for a few hours.
Many residents in New Delhi, inhabited mostly by government employees and their families, failed to recognise him at first, prompting his supporters to step in. When a Congress worker discreetly whispered in a local resident’s ears that the man at her doorstep was the son of a former CM, her eyes lit up.
The pamphlet Dikshit handed her illustrated his academic record and his feats as a parliamentarian. It boasted of “140 transformative” infrastructure projects he contributed to as an MP. Before losing to BJP’s Maheish Giri in 2014, Dikshit was elected as the East Delhi MP for two consecutive terms.
But New Delhi is uncharted territory for him.
Ever since he defeated Sheila Dikshit in 2013, Kejriwal has been voted to power from New Delhi three-times consecutively. In 2015, Kejriwal defeated BJP’s Nupur Sharma by more than 31,000 votes. In 2020, he secured more than 61 percent votes even as his victory margin over BJP’s Sunil Kumar Yadav reduced to 21,650 votes.
To make up for being an unfamiliar face, Congress’s new entrant plans to canvas in each locality and cover every last corner in New Delhi. His door-to-door campaign kicked off on January 1. Some of his entourage members, mostly old Congress hands, found it hard to keep pace with Dikshit as he raced up and down multi-storey buildings asking for votes.
But when compared to his mother and three-time Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit, who had held the New Delhi assembly seat for 15 years since it was carved out in 2008, his supporters believe Dikshit is not as friendly as she was and lacks the skills to build deep connections with voters.
“She would sit with people on the floor and could share a meal with anyone. Such gestures are missing when it comes to her son,” a Congress worker claimed.
Despite the various accolades and achievements that Sandeep Dikshit’s pamphlets list out, it is Sheila Dikshit’s legacy that looms large over her son’s campaign. Congress workers are also quick to point out her association with each locality her son visits.
“This gym was built by Sheilaji,” said Vijay Pal Singh, a senior Congress worker and retired government employee. Moments later, he announced to anyone who would listen, “These apartments were allocated by Sheilaji.”
This is the first time Dikshit is in a direct contest with Kejriwal, who first rose to power by defeating his mother in 2013. However, Dikshit’s ties to Kejriwal go back to the time when the former CM had not even entered the political arena.
After he won the Ramon Magsaysay award in 2006, Kejriwal had come calling to Dikshit’s MP office to understand “the working of an MP” after activist Aruna Roy introduced the two, the Congress leader said in a podcast. He also said he was taken aback by Kejriwal’s unconventional suggestions that he should not confine himself to the office.
In 2012, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had also claimed that Kejriwal had come to him in “2005 or 2006” lobbying to be included in the erstwhile National Advisory Council, which comprised activists and others and advised former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on policy issues during the UPA tenure. But he was apparently denied entry by chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Kejriwal had then termed Digvijaya’s claim “false”.
Observers believe that while Congress lacks organisational strength, any gains Sandeep Dikshit would make would be at Kejriwal’s expense. In an interview with News18 India, Dikshit himself admitted that the AAP and Congress share the same voter base.
Verma’s focus on communities
As Dikshit and his supporters went around listing out the progress made during the Congress and UPA tenure, just a few kilometres away, his rival and former BJP MP Parvesh Verma, 47, held a brainstorming session with young Dalit voters.
Verma discussed campaign strategies with the group and promised to address their issues which ranged from unavailability of jobs to sanitation problems. Some of them were part of a group that showed black flags to AAP workers campaigning around New Delhi’s Lady Hardinge Hospital a few days ago.
Before the session, Verma had to rush to the Delhi BJP office to respond to Kejriwal’s demand of including Jats in the central list of Other Backwards Classes. In his response, Verma, a Jat, accused Kejriwal of dividing Delhi on caste lines.
Back at 1, Janpath Road, which continues to be Verma’s “official residence” even though he ceased to be an MP over six months ago, it is mostly the leader’s caste brethren that form the bulk of his team. Most of the party workers and supporters campaigning for him are not from New Delhi. West Delhi, which Verma represented from 2014 to 2024 in the Lok Sabha, is dominated by Jats, among other communities such as Punjabis and Purvanchalis.
But caste or community lines are less prominent in the New Delhi assembly constituency, where Verma, too, is a novice.
Verma’s team acknowledges that Dalit voters are key to secure victory in the polls. His party workers estimate that nearly one-third of the one lakh voters in the New Delhi assembly are from the Dalit community, dominated by the Valmikis whose number political parties put between 20,000 and 25,000. Overall, 70 percent of the total voters in New Delhi are government employees.
While he hasn’t hit the road yet to campaign, Verma has been holding meetings with voters from different communities, and party workers at his residence. “Once all the candidates are announced, we will begin our campaign,” said a member of his team.
The pamphlets his team has been distributing counts Verma’s “38 achievements” as an MP, which include several infrastructure projects, and aid given during the pandemic years. A “golf course” was among one of the services the former MP had provided during the pandemic.
To his supporters, Verma, much like Dikshit, lacks the affability his father possessed, which made winning people hearts and votes easier. “If Sahib Singh had to visit Najafgarh from Janpath, it was a given that he would not reach in time as he would stop at 20-odd places to greet people,” said a BJP worker. “Parvesh would directly go to Najafgarh.”
If Verma is successful in defeating Kejriwal and the BJP emerges victorious in Delhi, many supporters believe he could be the next Delhi CM and could repeat his father’s legacy. “He asked for the (New Delhi) seat and knew that he would get it. On paper, it might seem to be a step-down for the MP, but what if Parvesh becomes a giant killer? In that case, he could be a probable CM candidate,” another BJP worker said.
Verma has, however, denied holding any ambitions to become CM, saying that his only goal is to defeat Kejriwal.
Meanwhile, Kejriwal has accused Verma of violating the model of conduct and sought his disqualification alleging that he distributed money.
“The money was given from my organisation’s accounts,” he said in an interview to India TV, referring to the Rashtriya Swabhiman Sansthan, an organisation his father founded in 1988 with the mission to “empower the Indian rural sector by providing superior educational, medical, infrastructural facilities”.
Verma told India TV that “if questions are asked by the Election Commission, I can show them the accounts of my sanstha”. He also called the money distributed a “monthly pension for mothers and sisters”.
Two days after the Model Code of Conduct came into effect in Delhi, sundry voters from New Delhi and other constituencies stood outside Verma’s house hoping to get their share of the “pension”.
“I have been told that the scheme has been discontinued, and was only for New Delhi voters,” a youth, who had come from Matiala to avail Rs 1,100, told Newslaundry.
At least three women, who did not wish to be identified, told Newslaundry that after they were handed the “pension money”, they were made to swear that they would vote for the BJP in the assembly polls.
Kejriwal had also accused Verma of organising a job fair, to be held on January 15, to get votes. Defending himself, Verma has told India TV that the fair was not to solicit votes and was only meant to provide jobs in “50 private companies”. While a pamphlet said that registration for the job fair would take place at more than 10 places, the district election official issued instructions to the returning officer to ensure no such registrations are allowed.
As the tripolar battle rages on, locals in New Delhi are still on the fence about who to vote for.
“Sheilaji allowed this area to use illegal power connections. Considering the Congress track record, only this party can remove poverty from Delhi and India,” Mamata, a Gole Market resident and domestic worker, told this reporter. “But Kejriwal has also done good work. He got pucca toilets built here and fixed the sewage system. He also did not allow power companies to install metres here.”
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