In what promises to be one of the most closely watched contests in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections, the Congress has fielded All India Mahila Congress President Alka Lamba to contest from the Kalkaji constituency.

Lamba will be pitted against senior AAP leader and current Delhi Chief Minister Atishi. In an official statement, the Congress on Friday announced "The Central Election Committee has approved the candidature of Alka Lamba as Congress candidate to contest the forthcoming general election to the Legislative Assembly of Delhi from 51 – Kalkaji constituency."

She began her political journey as a student leader, joining the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress party. After one year in 1995, she contested the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) election for the post of President and won by a huge margin.

In 2002, she was appointed the General Secretary of All India Mahila Congress and unsuccessfully contested Delhi Assembly elections from Moti Nagar Constituency against the senior BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana a year after.

In 2006, she became a member of All India Congress Committee (AICC) and was appointed General Secretary of Delhi Congress.

At the same time she was also appointed Vice Chairperson of National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD), an autonomous body of Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India.

She served as the Secretary of AICC from 2007 to 2011. In a dramatic turn of events, she parted ways with the Congress in December 2014, making a bold leap to join the AAP. Lamba went on to represent the Chandni Chowk constituency from 2015 to 2020, solidifying her position as a key figure in Delhi’s political landscape. However, she again rejoined Congress in September 2019 as she was disenchanted for quite some time with the AAP leadership.

Congress has already announced the names of 47 candidates including Devender Yadav from Badli, Sandeep Dixit from New Delhi, Ragini Nayak in Wazirpur, Jai Kisan from Sultanpur Majra and Haroon Yusuf from Ballimaran.

On contesting the upcoming Delhi state elections against Chief Minister Atishi, Lamba said,

“They should first clarify if she is a Chief Minister or a ‘temporary’ Chief Minister since AAP supremo has himself called her that, insulting the constitutional post as well as the woman sitting on that post. Moreover, I don’t consider this as a fight against an individual rather against the hazardous air, polluted Yamuna and crime in Delhi."