BJP sniffs big win on four seats, close fight on others

'Dislike for candidates may go against party in some seats'

The mood at the Delhi BJP office on Friday was upbeat over the possibility of the party’s 7-0 sweep in the Lok Sabha polls.

But there was talk in hushed tones about the battle going to the wire on at least three seats, including Chandni Chowk, where state BJP chief Harsh Vardhan is contesting.
There indeed was some sort of a Narendra Modi wave in the city, claimed a BJP leader, adding that on some seats people voted against them due to their dislike for the party candidate. 

“It will be a very close fight in Chandni Chowk and East Delhi. Any party, including the BJP, may emerge victorious,” said a party leader who did not want to be named.
The suspense over some of the seats is due to the sizeable Muslim vote share, which got split among the Congress and the AAP,  said BJP leaders.

Meanwhile, Harsh Vardhan stuck to his earlier claim that the party will win all the seven seats.

Delhi BJP Lok Sabha election management and campaign committee chief V K Malhotra organised a thanksgiving meeting for the party workers on Friday evening.
He too maintained that the final tally will be 7-0 in favour of the BJP.

Other party leaders said Harsh Vardhan was expected to face a tough fight in Chandni Chowk as the last two-hour voting rush in the constituency was similar to the AAP voters’ mass voting trend seen during the Assembly poll in December.

BJP leader Abhay Verma was also hopeful of a sweep but he agreed that the margin of victory will be narrow in some seats.

“The party would win four seats with a huge margin. These are: South Delhi, West Delhi, North-West Delhi and North-East Delhi,” he said.

“In the other three – Chandni Chowk, New Delhi and East Delhi – the margins will be less,”  he added.

Another party leader said apart from the tough fight for the party in Chandni Chowk and East Delhi, the outcome in West Delhi was also hanging in the balance.

The party had fielded Maheish Girri from East Delhi and Parvesh Verma, son of former chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, from West Delhi constituency.

The AAP candidate Jarnail Singh is said to be in contention and expected to give Parvesh Verma a tough fight, said sources. 

There were mixed views within BJP leaders over the New Delhi seat.  Some felt party canndidate Meenakshi Lekhi may find it tough to finish on the winning side, but others said she may win as there was huge negative voting against the Congress sitting MP Ajay Maken.