New Delhi: Will the New Delhi assembly seat witness a fierce electoral contest between sitting MLA and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and the sons of former Delhi chief ministers? While Congress nominated Sandeep Dikshit, son of former CM Sheila Dikshit from the seat on Thursday, Parvesh Verma, son of former BJP CM Sahib Singh Verma, said on Saturday that he had been asked by his party to “prepare for fighting the New Delhi seat”.
Verma, who was West Delhi MP earlier, asserted that BJP would win the New Delhi seat, claiming that Kejriwal hadn’t fulfilled his promises despite representing the constituency thrice in the assembly since 2013. Verma served two terms as an MP for West Delhi from BJP in 2014 and 2019. However, he wasn’t given a ticket in the general elections held earlier this year. He was replaced in the constituency by former mayor Kamaljeet Sehrawat, who won. Verma had also contested the assembly poll in 2013 from Mehrauli constituency.
A party functionary said, “If Verma is claiming such a thing, then he must have got some assurance about it. However, it is the central election committee that takes the final decision on nomination.” Congress has already announced its candidate, Dikshit, for the seat. His mother too had contested the same seat.
Kejriwal, referring to Dikshit and Verma, said they were both sons of former CM but that he was himself an aam aadmi. He asserted that the contest in the New Delhi constituency would be a battle between the “sons of CMs and the common man”.
On Friday, speaking at an event on Friday, Kejriwal had rejected the rumours that he was going to shift from the New Delhi seat to some other constituency in the coming polls. “There will be no change. I will contest from the New Delhi seat and chief minister Atishi will stand from Kalkaji,” the former CM had announced when asked about the possibility of the two AAP stalwarts changing seats.
Kejriwal had shot to political limelight by defeating then CM, Congress’ Sheila Dikshit, from the New Delhi constituency in the 2013 assembly polls by a margin of over 25,000 votes. In 2015, he again contested from New Delhi, triumphing over his BJP rival by over 31,000 votes. His victory margin reduced to 2,000 votes in the 2020 polls.
The New Delhi constituency is one of the smallest, numerically speaking, of the 70 assembly seats, elections for which are due to be held in Feb next year.