THE YEAR WAS 2013, the place, New Delhi. Arvind Kejriwal, a rookie politician, challenged Sheila Dikshit in her stronghold. Dikshit had been chief minister since 1998. Kejriwal’s victory by around 25,000 votes marked a seismic shift in Delhi’s political landscape, transferring both the high-profile seat and the CM’s post from Dikshit to Kejriwal.
Kejriwal resigned as CM in 2024 after being granted bail in a case related to an alleged liquor scam, vowing to seek a fresh mandate before returning to the post. He is contesting from New Delhi for the fourth time, with the CM’s office again in his sights. Pitted against him are the sons of two former Delhi chief ministers―Sheila Dikshit’s son Sandeep Dikshit of the Congress, and Sahib Singh Verma’s son Parvesh Verma of the BJP. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has dubbed the contest a battle between “two CMs’ sons and Delhi’s son”.
With political heavyweights in the fray―Sandeep was MP from East Delhi (2004–2014) and Verma from West Delhi (2014–2024)―the New Delhi constituency is witnessing an intense battle. Though one of the smallest constituencies geographically, it carries immense political significance.
Parts of the constituency once belonged to the erstwhile South Delhi Lok Sabha seat, which BJP leader Sushma Swaraj represented in 1996. Swaraj briefly served as Delhi’s first woman CM in 1998 before Dikshit won from the Gole Market seat. Gole Market ceased to exist following a delimitation exercise in 2007, which gave birth to the New Delhi constituency.
The seat’s 1,09,000-strong electorate primarily comprises politicians, bureaucrats, government employees, traders, dalits and slum dwellers. Its prestige is amplified by the inclusion of the Lutyens’ zone, home to Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament, the Prime Minister’s Office, foreign missions and top political and bureaucratic residences. Connaught Place, a premier commercial hub, also lies within its bounds, making it one of the most affluent and developed constituencies.
However, the constituency also includes slum clusters that have historically supported Kejriwal, largely due to AAP’s welfare initiatives―a voter base that the BJP is fiercely targeting. “I will work to create more employment opportunities, provide dignified housing for slum dwellers, empower women, and improve health, education and infrastructure,” said Verma, 47, after he was made the BJP candidate.
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Verma, whose father was Delhi chief minister from 1996 to 1998, is a prominent Jat face of the BJP. A staunch Kejriwal critic, he once labeled the AAP leader a “terrorist” for supporting the Shaheen Bagh protests in the run-up to the 2020 polls.
This time, Verma is focusing on issues such as JJ clusters (unplanned settlements of jhuggi-jhopris, or roughly built shelters). “In the slum areas where Kejriwal now roams with folded hands, people are asking, ‘What have you done? We are seeing you for the first time in 11 years,’” Verma wrote on X.
While strong party machinery backs Kejriwal and Verma, Sandeep Dikshit is running a grassroots campaign, visiting homes and invoking the legacy of his mother. “Having been an MP from East Delhi, I was looking to contest from somewhere there. However, the party decided I should run from New Delhi because of my critiques of the AAP government and my connection to this seat through my mother,” Dikshit told THE WEEK.
For the Congress, which currently has no MLAs in Delhi, this election presents an opportunity to regain ground. For Dikshit, who has been out of active politics since 2014, it offers a potential return from oblivion.
His efforts to make voters recall the Congress era is working, said Dikshit. “Last time, there was no mood for the Congress. This time, there is a mood for Sheila ji’s Delhi,” he said. But winning the seat remains a formidable task, especially as many influential Delhi Congress leaders have defected or faded from relevance.
The Kejriwal-Dikshit contest has raised questions about the INDIA bloc, which includes both the AAP and the Congress. Despite claims that national politics will not influence regional polls, leaders from both parties have exchanged barbs.
The AAP has accused the Congress and the BJP of collusion, with Kejriwal saying Dikshit “does what the BJP asks him to do”. Dikshit has criticised the AAP government, saying, “Nothing substantive has happened in Delhi since Sheila Dikshit’s period.”
Notably, Dikshit was among the leaders who attended the INDIA bloc rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan last April. He is even learnt to have visited Kejriwal’s home after his arrest in the excise scam case.
While neither the Congress nor the BJP has announced their CM faces, their choice of candidates for the New Delhi constituency offers hints. But Dikshit says “it’s a mere coincidence” that he is contesting from New Delhi.
For the Congress, the polls are a chance to revive its fortunes in Delhi. For the BJP, it is an opportunity to consolidate its position. For Kejriwal, the stakes are personal―how New Delhi votes will reflect public trust in him and his party amid controversies.