Campaigning ends as Delhi braces for three-way fight

The high-voltage campaign for the seven Lok Sabha seats in the country’s capital ended on Tuesday with main contenders BJP, Congress and fledgling AAP engaged in a fierce race to woo 1.27 crore voters.

On the last day of campaign, all the top players -- BJP, Congress and AAP held scores of road shows, rallies and public meetings to woo 1.27 crore voters which include over 3.37 lakh first time voters. A total of 150 candidates are in the fray.

The Lok Sabha election, set to witness a three-way contest with Aam Aadmi Party’s foray into parliamentary polls, is seen as a precursor to assembly polls likely to be held in the next few months.

After its severe drubbing in the assembly polls in December last year, Congress through its campaign tried hard to win back support of the people through rallies and house-to-house contact programme.

On the final day of campaigning, sitting Congress member from New Delhi Ajay Maken met residents of Gulmohar Park journalists’ colony at an interaction over breakfast. The Congress general secretary said his prospects of getting re-elected were very good.

Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan, who is contesting the polls from Chandni Chowk constituency, exuded confidence of winning all the seats, saying ‘the Modi wave’ will significantly help the party.

Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan, contesting from Chandni Chowk constituency, went on a road show with fellow leader Navjot Singh Sidhu and visited many localities, including Wazirpur, Kanhaiya Nagar, Keshavpuram and Bharat Nagar, seeking people’s support. The party’s candidate from South Delhi, Ramesh Bidhuri, who too was joined by Sidhu, met voters in Chirag Delhi, Nehru Place and Govindpuri localities.

The AAP carried out an aggressive campaign with its candidates visiting door-to-door to woo the voters to bring ‘changes’ into the political system. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal held road shows across the city in support of party candidates.

The election result is likely to be seen an indicator of people’s views on AAP quitting the government after remaining in power for 49 days. AAP’s Anand Kumar, contesting from North East Delhi, said in his rally that the people would defeat the communal BJP and corrupt Congress and choose AAP.