At 23, New Delhi Assembly constituency will see highest number of candidates

Last year, 28 candidates had contested from the seat, also the highest.

The Patel Nagar and Kasturba Nagar constituencies, meanwhile, will see only five candidates go up against each other — the lowest number this elections. While AAP has fielded Ramesh Pahalwan from the seat, BJP has fielded Neeraj Basoya and Congress has given a ticket to Abhishek Dutt from Kasturba Nagar.

A total of 719 candidates will contest elections on the 70 seats of the Delhi Assembly. Nominations were filed by 981 candidates, of which 262 were rejected. The scrutiny of the nominations was conducted on January 18, as the last date for filing nominations was January 17. The last date for the withdrawal of candidature is January 20.

According to officials in the office of the Delhi Chief Election Officer, the New Delhi seat has always seen the highest number of candidates, as it is located in the heart of Delhi and is seen as a prestigious seat.

“Many people contest polls as a way to make a statement. New Delhi is their chosen seat because it is seen as the seat of power. Before Arvind Kejriwal, (former Congress CM) Sheila Dikshit used to contest from the constituency. Now, anyone who wants to make a statement by contesting, chooses this seat,” the official said.

AAP has been in power in Delhi since 2015, and had previously formed government for 49 days in 2013 with outside support from the Congress.

The Congress was in power in Delhi for 15 years, between 1998 and 2013, under Sheila Dikshit. It has since lost a chunk of its vote share to the AAP.

The BJP, meanwhile, has come to power in Delhi only once between 1993 and 1998. Its rule saw three different chief ministers – Sahib Singh Verma, Madan Lal Khurana and Sushma Swaraj. Verma’s and Khurana’s sons Parvesh Verma and Harish Khurana, respectively, are also in the fray this time.

AAP won the polls in 2015, winning 67 of the 70 seats. In the 2020 polls, it won 62 seats. Congress has not had a single MLA in the Delhi Assembly since 2015.