The die is cast after the high decibel but acrimonious campaigning ended at 6 pm on Friday. Delhiites will vote on Sunday to elect their seven representatives in the Lok Sabha. However a lot has happened during one of the most bitter campaign bordering on slander, personal acquisitions.
As many as 164 candidates, including 18 women, are in the fray in for the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi which goes to polls on Sunday. It is expected to be three-cornered fight involving the BJP, AAP and the Congress in all the seats.
The general election 2019 witnessed acrimonious exchanges between the AAP and the BJP over allegations of horse-trading, rivals jabbing at one another over alleged discrepancies in affidavits and even a candidate of the ruling party in Delhi breaking down in a Press conference and an attack on Delhi Chief Minister and national Convener of AAP Arvind Kejriwal.
The campaign which got off to a slow start as alliance talks between the AAP and Congress lingered on till the last days of nomination, gained momentum over the last fortnight with senior leaders drawing huge crowds at mega rallies and road shows in the national Capital.
The campaign reached a crescendo in its last lap with Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding a massive rally at the iconic Ramlila Maidan, Congress president Rahul Gandhi addressing two public meetings, while his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra taking out two roadshows in the city.
BSP supremo Mayawati, BJP president Amit Shah and his party’s Chief Ministers Yogi Adityanath, Vijay Rupani, Pema Khandu, Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari and Giriraj Singh canvassed for their party candidates.
The campaign also saw cine stars — Hema Malini, Sunny Deol, Prakash Raj, Swara Bhaskar — garnering support for the candidates.
While the BJP’s campaign revolved around the party’s high-pitched nationalism narrative and the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress kept him in the cross hairs and sought to hard sell its minimum income guarantee scheme — Nyay.
The AAP, on the other hand, focussed on the demand for full statehood for Delhi. AAP candidates Atishi and Raghav Chadha sought rejection of nomination papers of their BJP rivals Gautam Gambhir and Ramesh Bidhuri.
Poll officers were also hard-pressed as several Model Code of Conduct violations were reported. Allegations of horse trading flew thick and fast as two AAP MLAs — Anil Bajpai and Devinder Sehrawat — crossed over to the BJP.
AAP alleged that rival Gautam Gambhir was behind the circulation of pamphlets containing derogatory and abusive remarks against Atishi, a charge the former cricketer vehemently denied.
