Regular histrionics on last day of nominations

Patiala House courts room number 18 was the venue for two heavyweights Kirti Azad, sitting MLA from Gole Market and Sheila Dikshit, Congress chief ministerial candidate.

At one stage, the room and the Patiala House compound became too small to accommodate supporters of not just Azad and Dikshit but also BSP and RJP candidates. The court compound had at least a 1,000 BJP supporters armed with flags and drums to cheer their leaders.

If the pitch of voice was any indicator, BJP were clear winners. Slogans like jeetenge ek lakh se jeetega We will win by a lakh votes and jitega hi jitega, Kirti Azad jitega Kirti Azad will win rent the air. A wave of humanity carried Azad to the gate as he was shifted from one shoulder to the other after he finished filing his nomination.

The high drama crested as Dikshit walked in with her supporters to file her papers amidst a sea of BJP supporters. Congress supporters were clearly outnumbered by those of the BJP. In fact, some of them were seen merrily dancing on a Congress banner which had been thrown on the ground 8212; but it was all in good humour. Other Congress candidates who came in were better prepared than Dikshit. Some of their supporters had to be requested to shout slogans like Sheila Dikshit zindabad8216; and Sonia Gandhi zindabad8217;.

Tense moments were averted when a small group started shouting anti-Dikshit slogans the people responsible were immediately rounded up. Seeing the BJP frenzy, people remarked that they should save some enthusiasm for the actual elections. Delhi Chief Minister Sushma Swaraj was accompanied by slogan-shouting supporters, senior BJP leaders including parliamentary affairs minister Madan Lal Khurana, party general secretaries M. Venkaiah Naidu and K.L. Sharma and Delhi Akali Dal leader Avtar Singh Hit.

Sahib Singh Verma, her predecessor, was conspicuous by his absence.

Clad in a thin-bordered cream colour saree Swaraj read the formal oath of contestants loud enough for the media crew to catch the sound byte.

A smiling Khurana offered her sweets and the Chief Minister reciprocated the gesture. Exuding confidence about her party8217;s victory she dismissed various Congress allegations as 8220;mere election strategy and far from the truth8221;.

Industry Minister Harcharan Singh Balli and Tourism Minister S.P. Ratawal also filed their nominations from Hari Nagar and Karol Bagh respectively. Rajendra Gupta, former transport minister, filed his papers from Malviya Nagar.

Among the prominent Congress candidates who filed nominations on the last day were Tajdar Babbar from Minto road and Kiran Choudhury from Delhi Cantt.For the public, the nomination spree caused a lot of inconvenience as they negotiated traffic jams at various places like the India Gate, Tis Hazari and Rajpur Road.