Kanhaiya Kumar vs Manoj Tiwari, Bansuri Swaraj vs Somnath Bharti among key Delhi Lok Sabha battles to watch out for
BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj, Congress candidate Kanhaiya Kumar, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari, and AAP’s Somnath Bharti.
With voting already complete in 428 Lok Sabha constituencies across 25 states and Union territories in the five phases, eyes have turned to the penultimate phase of the general election which will see polling for 58 seats, including all seven seats in Delhi. The high-decibel campaign for the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections that saw Union ministers, chief ministers and senior leaders of political parties descending on the national capital ended on Thursday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which swept all seven Lok Sabha seats in the last election, dropped all MPs but one, Manoj Tiwari from North East Delhi. On the other hand, AAP and Congress entered a seat-sharing agreement in Delhi as part of the opposition INDIA bloc. AAP has fielded its candidates on four Lok Sabha seats in Delhi while Congress got three seats in its quota.
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The BJP's poll campaign saw Modi addressing two rallies besides canvassing by Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani and Piyush Goyal and chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, including Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Pushkar Singh Dhami (Uttarakhand) and Pramod Sawant (Goa).
The Congress's poll campaign was led by its chief Mallikarjun Kharge, senior leader Rahul Gandhi, and Sachin Pilot among others. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been released on interim bail until June 1, held roadshows in support of both AAP and Congress candidates.
Read: Filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj among contributors to Kanhaiya Kumar’s campaign
While Arvind Kejriwal was in jail, his wife Sunita Kejriwal held roadshows for party candidates, and senior party leaders Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Sanjay Singh, and Gopal Rai held various public meetings and outreach activities under the party's "Jail Ka Jawab Vote Se" campaign.
With 162 candidates in the poll fray, the maximum number of contenders is from the North East Delhi constituency.
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Key Battles to Watch
New Delhi: AAP MLA Somnath Bharti is up against BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of the late Sushma Swaraj. Bansuri Swaraj is leveraging her mother's legacy, while Bharti banks on AAP’s local governance appeal to win the high-profile seat.
North East Delhi: Congress’ Kanhaiya Kumar is contesting against two-time MP Manoj Tiwari from the North East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency. Tiwari will be vying for a third consecutive term as MP from North East Delhi. He is the only candidate who has been repeated by the BJP. What makes the battle more interesting is both Manoj Tiwari and Kanhaiya Kumar hail from Bihar and would be eyeing a major chunk of Purvanchali votes to get ahead in the race.
East Delhi: The BJP dropped sitting MP Gautam Gambhir's name for the East Delhi contest after the latter requested BJP national president JP Nadda to relieve him of political duties as he wanted to focus on his cricket commitments. The BJP has fielded Harsh Malhotra 60, an LLB, to take on AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar, 35, a sitting MLA from the Kondli assembly constituency.
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