Delhi Lok Sabha elections 2019: Here is a close look at national capital’s 7 parliamentary constituencies and its main candidates

Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha seats go to polls on May 12. A triangular contest in the offing between the Bharatiya Janata Party, Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress. In 2014, the BJP made a clean sweep and the party is hoping for a repeat, banking heavily on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Congress is banking on anti-incumbency, social welfare schemes and development issues while Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP is pushing the demand for full statehood for Delhi. Going by past trends from general elections, the national capital has largely voted for a party that also eventually ends up forming the government at the centre.

North East Delhi: Sheila Dikshit needs no introduction as the veteran Congress leader and the party’s chief in Delhi has served the national capital as its longest chief minister, holding the post for 15 years from 1998 to 2013. She is pitted against BJP’s incumbent Bhojpuri actor-singer-turned politician Manoj Tiwari who is also leading the party’s Delhi unit. AAP has fielded Dilip Pandey who earlier served as the party’s coordinator. Tiwari had defeated AAP's Professor Anand Kumar in the 2014 General Elections, while the Congress candidate Jay Prakash Agarwal secured the third highest number of votes. The constituency has significant population of Bhojpuri and Muslim voters. The North East Delhi Lok Sabha seat also has a large number of unauthorised colonies lacking even basic amenities. Interestingly, both Dikshit and Tiwari’s political career within their respective parties may end up depending a lot on the outcome of this contest.

East Delhi: One of the most-watched contests in Delhi’s ‘Yamuna-paar’ area is between BJP’s cricketer-turned-politician candidate Gautam Gambhir, who is making his maiden foray in the hurly-burly world of politics. Gambhir is facing the Congress party’s Sikh candidate Arvinder Singh Lovely, who has held various positions in the Delhi government under the Sheila Dikshit regime. Lovely briefly joined BJP in 2017, but returned to the Congress fold the next year. What makes the East Delhi Lok Sabha seat truly interesting is the Aam Aadmi Party candidate Atishi, who has served as an advisor to Delhi’s education minister and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia. Atshi has been credited for playing a key role in bringing about reforms in Delhi’s government school. Gambhir was nominated by the BJP after the saffron party denied ticket to incumbent Mahesh Giri.