February 7 may end the political careers of some bigwigs of State politics. It’s a do-or-die battle for several former Congress MlAs and party stalwarts contesting the Delhi Assembly elections.
Many within the Congress and BJP feel that this could be perhaps the last hurrah in politics. All eyes are also on Muslim voters who had chosen the AAP over the Congress in the recent lok Sabha elections. Even after getting a large number of Muslim votes, the party could manage to win just eight of the 70 seats in the last Assembly elections. The party was decimated to third position in all the Assembly segments during the lok Sabha elections with a large chunk of the 12 per cent Muslim voters opting for AAP.
Among the Congress heavyweights contesting for their survival are former Delhi Ministers Ashok Kumar Walia, Raj Kumar Chauhan, Prof Kiran Walia, former Speakers Yoganand Shastri and Choudhury Prem Singh and former MlAs Subhash Chopra, Brahmpal, Jile Singh Chauhan, Bheesham Sharma, Master Bijender Singh and Malaram Gangwal. Similarly, it could be last Assembly polls for BJP’s NK Garg, Prof Jagdish Mukhi, Dr SC Vats who has recently joined the party, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Naresh Gaur.
For the Congress stalwarts, political pundits said this was going to be a candidate-to-candidate contest in each constituency. Some stalwarts were reportedly seen requesting the voters not to vote for the party but for the party candidates. A senior local candidate was seen telling voters, “You are not voting for the Congress. You are voting for your candidate.”
Chaudhary Prem Singh who tasted defeat in December 2013 Assembly polls after his winning spree that had started way back in 1958, fighting one more battle for his survival from Ambedkar Nagar (reserved seat). This may well be his last as age is not on his side. So is the case of Dr Ashok Kumar Walia, who was a Minister for 15 years in the Sheila Dikshit Government, is also fighting to retain his political significance in the city politics. At 66, it may be his last election, say political watchers.
Dr Narendra Nath, the four-term MlA from Shahdara, is past 70 and has been fielded yet again but poll surveys say he is far behind. Having realised his imminent defeat, he was heard campaigning for AAP candidate as he was loathe to Jitender Singh Shunty’s chances of retaining the seat.
Raj Kumar Chauhan, Subhash Chopra, Jile Singh Chauhan will be waiting with bated breath for the outcome of Mangolpuri, Kalkaji and Burari Assembly seats. Chauhan was a Minister in the Sheila Dikshit Government whereas Chopra was President of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) and former Speaker of the State Assembly.
Sources said that the Congress had strategically targeted those 32 seats where the Muslim vote share is more than 10 per cent. All through its two-week campaign, the party made desperate attempts to placate about 60 per cent to 70 per cent voters in unauthorised and resettlement colonies and jhuggi clusters. The party’s focus was also on its erstwhile stronghold in the 12 reserved seats where the AAP had made a dent by winning as many as nine seats in the last elections.