New Delhi:

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP candidate Atishi will file her nomination today from the Kalkaji Assembly Constituency for the Delhi Assembly polls, scheduled on February 5.

In a post on X, Atishi said that first, she would visit the Kalkaji Temple to get the blessing of Kalka Maa.
“I am going to file my nomination today. I will go to Kalkaji temple and take the blessings of Kalka Mai. Then after praying at Giri Nagar Gurudwara, I will start the nomination rally. In the last 5 years, I have received a lot of love from my family in Kalkaji. I am sure their blessings will remain with me,” she said.

आज अपना नामांकन भरने जा रही हूँ। कालकाजी मंदिर जाऊँगी और कालका माई का आशीर्वाद लूँगी। फिर गिरी नगर गुरुद्वारे में अरदास कर, नामांकन रैली की शुरुआत करूँगी।

पिछले 5 साल, कालकाजी के मेरे परिवार से, मुझे बहुत प्यार मिला है। मुझे भरोसा है कि उनका आशीर्वाद मुझ पर बना रहेगा। pic.twitter.com/xlwnPosa6G

— Atishi (@AtishiAAP) January 13, 2025

Speaking to ANI, the AAP leader targeted the BJP, accusing it of doing “Farzivada” in the Assembly polls.

“The BJP has become accustomed to winning elections through ‘farzivada’. They may have done this in Maharashtra and Haryana as well, but in Delhi, they got caught. From December 15 to January 8, there were 13,000 new voting applications in the New Delhi Legislative Assembly. It is clear that the BJP is indulging in forgery. We will not let the BJP do anything wrong. The BJP has been in power at the Centre for over 10 years, and what have they done for the Delhi people? Their only job is to abuse Kejriwal. They neither have a face for the CM nor any vision,” Atishi said.

The AAP leader is in the electoral fray against the BJP candidate Ramesh Bidhuri and Congress’ Alka Lamba for the Kalkaji seat.

Meanwhile, just six hours after asking people to fund her assembly election campaign, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi raised more than Rs 15 lakh through her online portal on Sunday.

Atishi has set a goal of garnering Rs 40 lakh as her election campaign fund, contesting from the Kalkaji Assembly constituency. As of January 10, 5:30 PM, the party’s donation page shows 278 people have donated a total of Rs 15,15,930 to her.

Earlier, Atishi turned to crowdfunding, claiming that people have donated money supporting the party’s “honest politics” and that the party does not take money from businessmen.

“People donated money to support Aam Admi Party’s honest politics. We don’t take money from big businessmen for elections. AAP government works for the common people. For my election from Kalkaji, I am launching a crowdfunding campaign for Rs 40 lakh, which I need for the election. People can donate any amount they want,” Atishi told reporters here on Sunday.

The Delhi assembly polls will be held in a single phase on February 5 and the counting of votes will take place on February 8.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

BJP rolled out a campaign song for the Delhi Assembly polls ‘Bahane Nahi Badlav Chahiye’ rendered by party MP Manoj Tiwari on Saturday. The song “Bahane Nahi Badlav Chahiye, Delhi Mein BJP Sarkar Chahiye” (need change not excuses, Delhi requires BJP government) reflects the mood of the city to oust the Aapda (AAP) government that “cheated” people with false promises and set record of corruption, charged Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva.

The song was launched officially during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Parivartan Rally” last week in Rohini, now it has been rolled out extensively for the poll campaign, he said at a press conference.

बहाने नहीं बदलाव चाहिए
दिल्ली में भाजपा सरकार चाहिए-श्री @ManojTiwariMP pic.twitter.com/cV1f684Nam

— BJP Delhi (@BJP4Delhi) January 11, 2025

Mr Sachdeva alleged that the people of Delhi are fed up of Mr Kejriwal’s party looting them and they want to bring the BJP into power.

Mr Tiwari, a three-time BJP MP from North East Delhi and a popular singer-actor, said that there are times one is required to give voice to the people’s feelings. This song represents that time one time for him.

“The theme song summarises the manifesto,” said Mr Tiwari humming a few lines at the press conference.

The BJP is yet to come up with its manifesto for the elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly scheduled on February 5. The party has so far released a list of 29 candidates and the next list is expected soon. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has announced its candidates in all 70 seats and recently launched its campaign song “Phir Layenge Kejriwal” in the run-up to the polls.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The BJP has released the first list of its candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in Delhi. The party has released names of candidates who would be contesting on 29 seats out of the total 70 seats in the national capital.

The Aam Aadmi Party has released the names of all the candidates that will be contesting in the Assembly elections. The elections in the National Capital are scheduled for February.

Former BJP MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma will be contesting against former Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi seat. 

Former Delhi Transport Minister, Kailash Gehlot, once a close aide of Arvind Kejriwal, left AAP and joined the BJP months before the elections, and will be contesting from the Bijwasan seat.

Ramesh Bidhuri, who was the BJP MP from South Delhi till 2024, will be contesting from the Kalkaji constituency against Chief Minister Atishi. Mr Bidhuri was not given a ticket by the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections 2024. Congress has fielded Alka Lamba from the Kalkaji constituency.

Arvinder Singh Lovely, who was a minister in Sheila Dikshit’s cabinet from 2003 to 2013, left the Congress last year and joined the BJP, he will now be contesting from the Gandhinagar seat in east Delhi. 

The Aam Aadmi Party has been in power since 2015, securing a thumping majority twice in the Assembly elections. But, in the Lok Sabha elections, AAP has failed to win a single seat since 2014 and BJP won all seven.

Yesterday, sources told NDTV that Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva will not be contesting in the upcoming Assembly elections. This came amid talks that he might be contesting in the polls.

The upcoming elections are being viewed as a fiercely contested battle between the BJP and AAP. The Congress, which was in power in Delhi for 15 straight years, has not been able to win any seat in the last two editions of the Delhi polls.

Allies in the Opposition bloc INDIA, the Congress and AAP are fighting against each other in the Delhi polls. The parties even fought separately in the Haryana elections last year.

New Delhi:

In a major administrative shuffle, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has ordered the transfer of Delhi police officials ahead of the assembly elections in the national capital due next year.

“The Lieutenant Governor, Delhi, is pleased to order the transfer/posting of the following IPS/DANIPS officers, presently posted in Delhi police, with immediate effect of Police Establishment Board,” an official notice read.

A total of 11 police officers have been transferred. They include: Abhishek Dhania from DCP North-West district to DCP East district, Apporva Gupta from DCP East district to DCP Crime, Bhisham Singh from DCP Crime to DCP North West district, Rakesh Paweria from DCP North-East district to DCP headquarters, Ashish Kumar Mishra from DCP Central district to North-East district, among others.

The assembly elections in Delhi are likely to be held in February next year.

The upcoming polls are expected to be a litmus test for the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) governance model and its appeal to the electorate. In its bid for a third consecutive term in power in the national capital, AAP has nominated its senior leaders including health minister Saurabh Bhardwaj contesting from Greater Kailash.

The Congress has declared a total of 47 candidates for the elections of the 70-member Delhi Assembly so far, while the BJP is yet to announce any candidate. 

Presently, AAP holds 58 seats in the Delhi assembly – down from the 62 it won in 2020 after the resignation of four members. The BJP holds the remaining seats. The Congress has failed to win any seats in the national capital so far. Mr Kejriwal has on multiple occasions also ruled out any alliance with Congress, despite both parties being part of the INDIA bloc.

New Delhi:

The prestigious New Delhi Assembly seat is likely to witness a fierce electoral contest with sitting MLA and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal pitted against the sons of former Delhi chief ministers as the BJP and Congress candidates.

Parvesh Verma, the son of former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, on Saturday told PTI that he has been asked to prepare for contesting from the New Delhi constituency.

The Congress has already announced its candidate Sandeep Dikshit on the seat. He is son of three-time former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

Speaking at an event earlier on Friday, Mr Kejriwal rejected the rumours that he was going to shift from the New Delhi seat to some other constituency in the upcoming assembly elections which are due in February next year.

“There will be no change. I will contest from New Delhi seat and Chief Minister Atishi from Kalkaji,” he said when asked about the possibility of changing seats by them.

Referring to Mr Dikshit and Mr Verma, the AAP supremo said they are the sons of former chief ministers and claimed himself to be an “Aam Aadmi”.

The former Delhi chief minister asserted that the contest in the New Delhi constituency will be a battle between the “CM sons and the common man”.

Mr Verma, a former West Delhi Lok Sabha MP, said, “My party has asked me to prepare from this seat.” The list of BJP candidates is yet to come out, he added.

Asserting the BJP will win the New Delhi seat, Mr Verma claimed that Kejriwal has not fulfilled his promises despite representing the constituency thrice in the assembly since 2013.

The AAP supremo shot to fame in the political arena of the country by defeating then chief minister Sheila Dikshit from the New Delhi constituency in the 2013 assembly polls by a margin of over 25,000 votes.

In 2015, he again won from New Delhi defeating the BJP candidate by more than 31,000 votes. His victory margin reduced to 2, 000 votes in 2020 polls.

The New Delhi constituency is one of the smallest, numerically speaking, of the total 70 assembly seats and is dominated by the government employees as voters.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Congress Thursday released its first list of 21 candidates for the Delhi Assembly polls slated to be held early next year, fielding city unit chief Devender Yadav from Badli and ex-MP Sandeep Dikshit from New Delhi.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is the sitting MLA from New Delhi.

The Congress also fielded ex-Delhi minister Haroon Yusuf from Ballimaran, ex-Delhi Congress chief Chaudhary Anil Kumar from Patparganj, national spokesperson Ragini Nayak from Wazirpur and Adarsh Shastri from Dwarka.

Among the other candidates, Ali Mahndi will fight from Mustafabad, Abdul Rehman from Seelampur, Rohit Chaudhry from Nangloi Jat and Praveen Jain from Shalimar Bagh.

The list was released soon after the Congress’ top leadership Thursday cleared the names of the 21 candidates for the assembly elections.

At a meeting of the party’s central election committee chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, top leaders from Delhi and CEC members discussed the names of nominees and gave nod to 21 candidates.

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, CEC members Ambika Soni, Salman Khurshid, T S Singh Deo and Mushusudan Mistry were among those present at the meeting. Delhi Congress chief Devendra Yadav was also present during the deliberations.

Qazi Nizamuddin, the in-charge of the party’s affairs in Delhi, said, “In the last 10 years, Delhi has suffered a lot. The Centre and the Delhi government have been blaming each other for the bad conditions here.

“People have been suffering the consequences and they are now hell-bent on teaching these two governments a lesson,” he said after the CEC meeting.

Mr Yadav said, “All categories have been taken care of in our list. You will also get to see new and young faces. I am happy that our leadership has held discussions with everyone.” The Congress and AAP were earlier toying with the idea of holding a pre-poll alliance, but top leaders of both the parties, including Arvind Kejriwal and Yadav, have been openly saying that they will contest the Delhi polls alone and there will be no tie-up.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) boss Arvind Kejriwal has reiterated his party’s decision to contest the upcoming Delhi elections on its own, trashing reports that the AAP was discussing a seat-sharing strategy with the Congress. His remark came a day after he met veteran politician Sharad Pawar at his Delhi home, also attended by senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

“Aam Aadmi Party will be fighting this election on its own strength in Delhi. There is no possibility of any alliance with Congress,” said Mr Kejriwal, sharing a post that said the parties were in the final stage of their alliance talks.

Devender Yadav, the interim boss of Delhi Congress, confirmed last month the two parties will not contest together in the election that is expected to be held in February.

Read: AAP “Fishing In Congress’ Waters” As Arvind Kejriwal Plots Re-Election Bid

Last week, after Mr Kejriwal announced a solo contest in Delhi, a Congress leader said that by making repeated statements, the AAP wants to create an environment that compromises the Congress.

“It means they (AAP) are afraid and want to create an environment that compromises the Congress. Otherwise, when this has been clarified, then it should not happen again. A week ago, Delhi Congress had said that we would not make an alliance with anyone,” former Congress MP Udit Raj had said.

The AAP had allied with the Congress during the parliamentary polls earlier this year but lost all seven seats to the BJP. The two parties went solo in Haryana polls in October after alliance talks failed over seat choices, which was seen as a reason behind their poll debacle.

The Delhi unit of Congress had been targeting the AAP over various issues, even though the two parties are working together at the national level, including for the ongoing Parliament session.

Read: “When We Have Said…”: Congress Reacts To AAP Going Solo For Delhi Poll

Sources told NDTV that the AAP was looking for strong candidates in the Congress fold with a focus on reviving the party in the city after the Lok Sabha poll setback.

The recent announcement by Mr Kejriwal followed a decision by the Opposition’s INDIA alliance to approach the Supreme Court over an alleged manipulation of the Electronic Voting Machines or EVMs, which they believe is behind their election defeats.

The decision assumed significance in the wake of the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s Maharashtra poll setback, which saw Sharad Pawar’s party – split by his nephew Ajit Pawar – recording its worst performance.

New Delhi:

Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav on Tuesday informed the party workers that the Congress will go it alone in the next assembly elections as its tie-up with the AAP was only for the Lok Sabha polls, a statement said.

After the Congress’ vote share went up substantially in the recent Lok Sabha elections, there is renewed enthusiasm among the workers and general public that the party will perform better in the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls as people now look for change, Mr Yadav claimed.

Addressing a meeting of the office-bearers of the Krishna Nagar district Congress Committee at Preet Vihar, Mr Yadav said the block and district Congress committee meetings have activated and rejuvenated the workers to strengthen the party at the booth level and will bring back the Congress to power in the Delhi Assembly.

“Mr Yadav told the workers that in the coming elections, the Congress will go it alone as the tie-up with AAP was only for the Lok Sabha elections,” the statement said.

He said the people’s support for the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections was clear when the party got an increased vote share. This was a clear indication that people want the Congress to fight the assembly elections alone, he added.

Mr Yadav alleged that people have been suffering due to water shortage, power tariff hike, waterlogging and water theft as the government in power only makes excuses instead of solving their problems.

He further said all district Congress committees will hold demonstrations against the Delhi government for the power tariff hike by the Discoms by nearly nine per cent.

The demonstration will be held at over 50 places across Delhi. He appealed to the people of Delhi to join the Congress demonstration in thousands as the party was fighting for the cause of the consumers, another statement said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)