New Delhi: Amid the wait for counting of votes for Delhi Assembly elections, speculations are rife whether the candidate who wins from New Delhi Assembly constituency will go on to become the Chief Minister yet again.
Most of the exit polls after voting for the polls are pointing towards the formation of a BJP government in Delhi. However, a couple of surveys claim that the Aam Aadmi Party will once again form the government in the capital. Like every election, this time too all eyes are on the New Delhi Assembly seat from where Aam Aadmi Party's national convener and former Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal is pitted against BJP's Pravesh Verma, son of former Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma. But, if Kejriwal wins the election from New Delhi seat this time and the prediction of the majority of the exit polls prove correct, then the belief that the candidate winning from the constituency goes on to become the Chief Minister may for once prove incorrect. But if AAP wins even then the possibility of Kejriwal becoming the Chief Minister seems uncertain given the ongoing ED case against him in the liquor scam. The Supreme Court had said that Kejriwal cannot neither visit the secretariat nor access government files. Similarly, if Pravesh wins the election and if BJP forms the government, even then there is no clarity yet on whether he will be made the Chief Minister.
Who won from New Delhi seat and when
1993: Kirti Azad, BJP (then Gol Market Assembly seat)
1998: Sheila Dixit, Congress (then Gol Market Assembly seat)
2003: Sheila Dixit, Congress (then Gol Market Assembly seat)
2008: Sheila Dixit, Congress (New Delhi Assembly seat)
2013: Arvind Kejriwal, AAP (New Delhi Assembly seat)
2015: Arvind Kejriwal, AAP (New Delhi Assembly seat)
2020: Arvind Kejriwal, AAP (New Delhi Assembly seat)
The candidate winning from New Delhi constituency went on to become the Chief Minister six times. After the formation of Delhi Assembly, elections were held for the first time in 1993. In this first election, Kirti Azad won from Gol Market seat as a BJP candidate. At that time there was no New Delhi Assembly seat. Earlier the area under New Delhi used to be a part of Gol Market Assembly constituency. Except for the first election, in all the six elections held after that, candidates who won from New Delhi seat became the Chief Minister. New Delhi assembly seat came into existence after delimitation in 2008. What's even more interesting is that the party whose candidate won from Gol Market Assembly seat (before 2008) formed the government in Delhi. Sheila Dixit won the seat in 1998, 2003 and 2008. In 2013, 2015 and 2020, Kejriwal won the election from New Delhi Assembly seat.
Political analyst's take
Political analyst Jagdish Mamgain said, BJP's record of contesting elections in Delhi Assembly elections by declaring the face of the Chief Minister has not been good so far. In the 1993 Assembly elections, Madanlal Khurana was a prominent leader in Delhi and at that time the party won and formed the government in Delhi. But after that, from 1998 till now, the party has not been able to win despite declaring the name for the post of Chief Minister. In the 2003 Assembly elections, the party contested the elections by making Khurana the CM face but still Dikshit's Congress managed to form the government for the second consecutive time.
After this, in 2008, BJP fielded its senior leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra against Dikshit. But Malhotra could not ensure BJP's win. In 2013, BJP did not decide on the Chief Minister face. However, at that time it was believed that if the party got a majority, Dr Harsh Vardhan would be made the Chief Minister. But it did not happen. In the 2013 Assembly elections, the party did not come even close to the majority figure. In the 2015 Assembly elections, BJP fielded Kiran Bedi, who had left the Aam Aadmi Party, against Kejriwal and declared her as the Chief Minister candidate. But it had to face a crushing defeat. In the 2020 Assembly elections too, Delhi BJP had sought votes in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi without fielding a Chief Minister face and it lost yet again.
