Congress identifies three LS candidates for Delhi

A Congress spokesperson seeking anonymity said, ‘The three candidates are almost final but there is no finality till the candidates are announced…’

After pulls and pressures between top leaders within the Congress over seat distribution in Delhi, the party is said to have finalised its three candidates for Chandni Chowk, North East and North West whose names could be announced in Congress’ next Central Election Committee meeting.

A Congress spokesperson seeking anonymity said, “The three candidates are almost final but there is no finality till the candidates are announced. Sandeep Dixit would contest from North East, Udit Raj from Northwest and J.P. Agarwal from Chandni Chowk. All the three candidates have formerly been Parliamentarians.”

Earlier, it was seen that there is quite a conflict for Chandni Chowk seat where Organisation general secretary K.C. Venugopal wanted to field Alka Lamba, however, it is believed that J.P. Agarwal has his own cadre and matches well up to the business community of the area.

Party insiders believe Agarwal has potential to win the seat but the same would not have applied to Alka Lamba. Moreover Lamba is seen to be someone poorly equipped with public outreach activities and someone who does not have connect with the electorate.

Also, it is important to note that the Delhi Congress president Arvinder Lovely had already cleared his stance over his role in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The party insiders suggest Lovely had beforehand created an impression in the party that he is not willing to contest the elections and would like to support other candidates in the fray. A senior Congress leader said, “Lovely said he would support Sandeep Dixit and moreover the tickets have been distributed based on our survey. The state leadership, Lovely and state incharge Deepak Babariya have had substantial role in marking out candidates for the elections.”

A political analyst said, “The Congress party in Delhi is a divided force. And if they come together, they start bickering. When they are not together they don’t work to make the Congress’ standing better. Now the important target for the Congress would be to win at least one seat and that would really help the party to revive its cadre. It would also pour motivation among the rank and file. However, the battle is the upcoming elections. Last time BJP won every seat out of the 7 with a margin of over 2 Lakh votes. And that shows how difficult it would be for Congress to win such seats.”