Congress may field new faces to woo voters, especially youth. An internal churning of the party has revealed that it needs to change candidates in 15 to 20 Assembly constituencies to get better results. The party had got the worst drubbing in the last Delhi Assembly elections as it was reduced to a humiliating eight seats. The results shocked Congressmen who had ruled the Capital for 15 years. The selection process has begun and Congress may announce its candidates much earlier as that would give it ample time to launch an aggressive campaign against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Sheila Dikshit-led Congress had romped home with an impressive tally of 41 seats in 2008 Assembly elections and those were heady days. Congress changed 27 of its candidates in December 2012 polls out of 70 who had contested in 2008. Of these 27 new faces, one was of the Rajouri Garden MlA as he had a case pending against him. The party then gave ticket to the sitting legislator Dayanand Chandila’s wife Dhanwanti Chandila.
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Arvinder Singh lovely said that party was going to alter its poll strategy and will come out with the full list of the candidates. “Early announcement will provide ample time for each and every candidate to launch an all-out campaign,” said lovely.
The AAP, which made a spectacular entry into active politics by winning 28 seats, has already announced the name of 22 candidates. A source said that the newbie party was also planning to bring in seven or eight new faces. Two AAP MlAs, Rajesh Garg from Rohini and Prof Harish Khurana from Timarpur seat have already expressed their inability to contest the elections.
On the other hand BJP that fell short of four seats to prove its majority, the selection of the candidates is reportedly going to be a big challenge. A senior saffron party leader said that the party would be screening each and every candidate very minutely for Government formation in the city. While the party would be fielding three new faces on those seats which fell vacant after their legislators won the lok Sabha elections, there are indications that the saffron brigade may also bring fresh faces on some four or five more seats.
The biggest challenge before all the three major parties in selection of its candidates would be if the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), a Muslim-based party, decides to contest on some Muslim-dominated seats in Delhi. There are eight Muslim dominated seats in Delhi. The MIM is reportedly holding talks with Janata Dal (United) MlA Shoaib Iqbal. The party also expects to garner support from the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
A political observer said that the Muslim voters are going to play a key role in Delhi elections. Only a section of the community is said to have voted for the AAP in the last Assembly poll. But the same community voted in large number for the AAP in the lok Sabha elections.
All parties are keeping an eye on the BSP, which has decided to contest on all the 70 seats. The BSP polled 14.05 per cent votes in 2008 Assembly poll. But its vote share fell to 5.35 per cent in 2013 State elections. The party’s vote share fell further to 1.2 per cent in the lok Sabha. “If the party is able to retain its 2008 vote share, then it is going to be a cakewalk for the BJP,” a saffron leader said, adding, “Such a division of Dalit votes is bound to bring down a large number of AAP seats.”