With just a few hours remaining before the final announcement of the Lok Sabha Election Results 2024, the electoral arena is filled with fervor and anticipation. A total of 8,360 candidates are awaiting the outcome of their efforts to secure victory in the parliamentary constituencies they contested.
While both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition-led INDIA bloc have expressed confidence in their victory, the final results on June 4 will determine the fate of all candidates, revealing who among the 8,360 hopefuls have succeeded and who have fallen short.
Amidst the anticipation for results across all 543 seats where polling took place, particular attention is drawn to the seven parliamentary constituencies of Delhi. Here, a tri-party battle ensues between AAP, Congress, and BJP. Notably, AAP and Congress have formed an alliance under the joint INDIA bloc membership, with Congress contesting on three seats and AAP on four. In contrast, BJP has independently fielded seven candidates in the national capital.
Details of Polling Conducted
Before delving into the specifics of key candidates, it is crucial to review the details of the polling conducted.
Polling across all the seven seats in Delhi was held during the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha Elections on May 25, with the total turnout reported in Delhi at 58.69%.
Elections 2024: What happened in 2014 and 2019?
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party swept all the 7 seats. The Congress and AAP failed to open their account.
Similar results were witnessed in the 2014 Lok Sabha Election, when the BJP won all the seven seats. In the 2024 elections, BJP changed all its candidates except Manoj Tiwari from North East Delhi.
Key Candidates in Delhi Lok Sabha Elections 2024
- Manoj Tiwari (BJP): Manoj Tiwari began his political career in 2009, contesting the 15th Lok Sabha elections for the Samajwadi Party in Gorakhpur, but lost to Yogi Adityanath. He won the North East Delhi seat in the 2014 Indian general elections as a BJP candidate and has represented the constituency since then.
- JP Agarwal (Congress): JP Agarwal, a 79-year-old veteran Congressman, is running for his tenth Lok Sabha term. He previously represented Chandni Chowk in 1984, 1989, and 1996. He is set to contest against BJP candidate Praveen Khandelwal in Chandni Chowk.
- Harsh Malhotra (BJP): Harsh Malhotra has been chosen by the BJP to contest from the East Delhi seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Malhotra, a former mayor of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, is among the six candidates replacing incumbent BJP MPs in Delhi.
- Mahabal Mishra (AAP): Formerly with the Indian National Congress (INC), Mahabal Mishra started his political career in 1997 as a Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) councilor from the Dabri ward in West Delhi. He has been elected to the Delhi Legislative Assembly three times and to the Lok Sabha once. He is now a member of the AAP.
- Kanhaiya Kumar (Congress): Kanhaiya Kumar, a former student leader from JNU, entered politics in 2019, contesting unsuccessfully as a CPI candidate from Bihar's Begusarai. He is now a candidate for the Congress.
- Yogender Chandolia (BJP): Yogender Chandolia, a prominent BJP figure in Delhi, became the general secretary of the BJP's Delhi unit in 2023. He previously served as a Municipal Councilor for the Dev Nagar area in the Karol Bagh zone.
- Udit Raj (Congress): Udit Raj, a former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, is the Congress candidate from North West Delhi. Raj, a Dalit leader, won the seat in 2014 on a BJP ticket but joined the Congress in 2019 after not being renominated by the BJP.
- Praveen Khandelwal (BJP): Praveen Khandelwal, a seasoned businessman, is the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate for the Chandni Chowk constituency. A graduate in law from Delhi University, Khandelwal was nominated to Narendra Modi’s GST panel in 2017.
- Kuldeep Kumar (AAP): AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from the East Delhi seat. Elected as the youngest corporator in the MCD at 27, Kumar was later appointed Leader of the Opposition of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation and vice president of AAP's Delhi unit.
Further, the other key candidates include Bansuri Swaraj, who is the daughter of late Union minister Sushma Swaraj. She is pitted against AAP's Somnath Bharti from the New Delhi seat.
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