Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Alka Lamba has found no luck with Congress party high command. Party sources said Lamba met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and senior leader Ahmad Patel to seek ticket to contest Lok Sabha elections but could not manage to get.

Lamba had showed her willingness to join the Congress party after Delhi Assembly adopted a resolution on 1984 riots demanded Bharat Ratna  awarded to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi be withdrawn.

With the possibilities of contesting election by Congress leader Kapil Sibal from Chandni Chowk, Lamba’s dream to join Congress will be shattered.

Sources in party high command said that Lamba was consistently in touch with top leaders in Congress party including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sheila Dikshit, however the possibility of alliance with ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and preference to former Union Minister Kapil Sibal for Chandni Chowk  has changed Party’s approach towards Lamba. 

Interestingly, as per the party sources, seats sharing between both the parties have been done and now it is only a matter of time to make it formally announced

 After several rounds of talks between both the parties seat sharing between AAP and Congress is final. “Issue of contention is on Chandni Chowk, both the parties want it and congress is batting for Sibal,” said a source, adding, “Dikshit is not in favor of alliance but it will happen.”

 Highly placed sources in the party high command said that in alliance, Congress will contest election for three pivotal seats which are - New Delhi, Chandni Chowk and North West Delhi. However, for the rest four parliamentarians - North East Delhi, East Delhi, West Delhi and South Delhi, AAP will contest to take over Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).

Chandni Chowk  has emerged as one of the key battlegrounds among all seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi.

In 16th Lok Sabha elections, 2014, BJP’s candidate Dr. Harsh Vardhan, the Aam Aadmi Party’s candidate Ashutosh and Congress’ candidate Kapil Sibal contested for the Lok Sabha seat from the constituency.

Notably, giving tough fight to opponents,  Dr. Harsh Vardhan won the election by a resounding 437938 votes, defeating by a margin of 136320 votes. In third place, Congress’ Kapil Sibal won a total of 176206 votes. Sibal is critical choice and had a strong hold in Chandni Chowk.  As per Congress leaders, Sibal had come out as a clear winner in 2009 sweeping 59.67 per cent votes of the constituency.

Chandni Chowk is one of the oldest constituency and has been represented by famous political leaders of Indian National Congress Radha Raman,  BJP leader Vijay Goel, Union Minister of the UPA regime, Kapil Sibal.

Chandni Chowk plays a pivotal role in context of political discourse not in Delhi but in India.  Party sources also said that an internal survey done by Congress is playing a crucial role in changing the minds of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) leaders who have been against the alliance. As per the survey reports, BJP is ahead of both AAP and Congress with 35 per cent of the vote share in the Capital.