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AA Edit | Intriguing 3-way contest for Delhi

Occupying the post of chief minister in the Delhi state setup where the lieutenant governor also wields power may seem like a mixed blessing, but Mr Kejriwal appears even more determined this time

An intriguing three-way contest for the Delhi Vidhan Sabha will be decided on Wednesday by those among the capital’s 1.56 crore voters who are willing to exercise their franchise. They voted for the aam admi champion Arvind Kejriwal twice in the last decade, giving his AAP 67 of 70 seats in an overwhelming vote when he first dislodged the Congress in 2015 and 62 of 70 seats in 2020.

Occupying the post of chief minister in the Delhi state setup where the lieutenant governor also wields power may seem like a mixed blessing, but Mr Kejriwal appears even more determined this time. A rare hat-trick against the background of his having carried the albatross of corruption charges in a liquor licensing scandal as he faces his foes in the BJP as well as friends in the INDIA alliance in the shape of the Congress would make triumph even sweeter.

The BJP senses an opportunity to dethrone a regional chieftain who has been a pesky opponent in the cut and thrust of politics done in Indian style with all the trappings of drama thrown in. The Congress may have faced criticism from among allies for being in the fray at all. But it has always been a contestant for the prestige of ruling in the capital though its vote share was whittled down to as little as 4.26 per cent in 2020 as compared to BJP’s 38.51 per cent and AAP’s impressive 53.5 per cent.

No one was spared in an abrasive campaign, not even the substitute CM Atishi who stood in for Mr Kejriwal after he had invited opprobrium for trying to run the government by proxy from Tihar Jail. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi BJP’s star campaigner in all polls, and former CM Kejriwal and the Gandhi siblings spending major time at the hustings, the stakes appeared to hit a higher plane though the passage of time alone might have contributed to this in India’s shrill and shriller electoral politics.

The bookmakers may have plumped for Mr Kejriwal’s AAP as the favourite to win a simple majority while exit polls might have different tales to tell. As they say in sport, it is still Mr Kejriwal’s match to lose and the spotlight is clearly on Delhi even if there are two Assembly bypolls in Tamil Nadu and UP, the second in Milkipur slated to be an interesting contest between the BJP and the SP after mixed results had popped up in the Lok Sabha polls last year.

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