Delhi Assembly Polls 2025: After high-pitch campaign, stage set for polling on February 5

New Delhi: Delhiites will head to polling booths on Wednesday to elect a new government after weeks of aggressive campaigning by the principal players AAP, BJP and Congress who are hoping to rewrite the capital's electoral history.

Around 1.56 crore people are eligible to vote and are spread across 70 Assembly constituencies where 699 candidates are seeking the mandate. Voting will take place across 13,766 polling stations, amid a strict vigil kept by personnel of Delhi Police and other forces, including the paramilitary.

The counting of votes will be held on February 8. AAP had won 62 seats in 2020 while leaving the rest seven to the BJP.

Officials said 220 companies of paramilitary forces, 35,626 Delhi Police personnel, and 19,000 home guards have been deployed for voting. Around 3,000 polling booths have been identified as sensitive and enhanced security arrangements, including drone surveillance, have been made.

AAP is seeking a third term while BJP is hoping to return to power after a gap of 27 years. Congress, which has not won a single seat since 2015, hopes to win a couple of seats and increase its vote share, which had been captured by AAP riding on an anti-corruption movement.

BJP and Congress have made the electoral battles against AAP top leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Atishi and Manish Sisodia interesting by fielding its senior leaders. BJP's former MP Parvesh Verma and Congress' Sandeep Dikshit, a former MP and son of former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, are taking on Kejriwal, AAP supremo and former Chief Minister, in the New Delhi seat.

Against Chief Minister Atishi in  Kalkaji, the BJP has fielded former MP Ramesh Bidhuri and Congress has fielded its women's wing chief Alka Lamba. Former Deputy Chief Minister Sisodia will face former MLA Tarwinder Singh Marwah of BJP and former mayor Farhad Suri of Congress in Jangpura.

In what is seen as an attempt to beat anti-incumbency, AAP had dropped 21 sitting MLAs and found new faces in three seats where its lawmakers shifted to other parties. Sisodia and former Deputy Speaker Rakhi Bidlan were shifted from their sitting seats. 

While Congress has fielded most of its senior leaders, BJP too has fielded experienced leaders to take on the BJP.

During the high octane campaign, the parties had taken on each other. AAP had alleged that all its social security schemes will be stopped if BJP comes to power, a claim which it has denied.

All parties have come up with guarantees, especially women. 

Delhi Assembly Election 2025 | The first of two state assembly polls this year sees a three-way contest between AAP, Congress, and BJP in the nation's capital. AAP decided to contest the polls alone, causing rumours of a rift in I.N.D.I.A. BJP, meanwhile, is hoping the liquor excise policy scam and pollution in Delhi will give the saffron party an edge over AAP. Kejriwal, on the other hand, has different plans with his demand for reservations for Delhi Jats. Congress will also be looking to make its presence felt and has not held back from attacking its own alliance partner. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.

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