 "BJP's Bansuri against AAP's Bharti: Two lawyers battling for New Delhi")
The battle for the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency is between two lawyers, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Bansuri Swaraj, and Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) Somnath Bharti.
The AAP currently holds all 10 Assembly segments that fall within the boundary of the Lok Sabha constituency, with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi minister Saurabh Bhardwaj and Bharti representing three of them.
In 2014 and 2019, Delhi's electorate voted overwhelmingly for the BJP, which won all seven seats on both occasions.
Bharti, a three-term legislator, would hope the AAP’s responsive civic governance and sympathy for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would help him win the contest. Bansuri is banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity, and the fact that the New Delhi electorate is known to vote on national rather than local issues for the Lok Sabha polls.
Bansuri will try to claim the legacy of her late mother, Sushma Swaraj, the first woman chief minister of Delhi. Swaraj was also a two-term MP from the neighbouring South Delhi constituency.
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The New Delhi constituency comprises the Lutyens Bungalow Zone, and localities such as Khan Market, Defence Colony, Green Park, and Lajpat Nagar. It has sent several Bharatiya Jana Sangh and BJP stalwarts to the Lok Sabha in the past, including Balraj Madhok, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani and Jagmohan.
Sucheta Kripalani, the first woman chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, represented this seat in 1952 (as a candidate of a faction of the Socialist Party) and as a Congress candidate in 1957, while Congress’ KC Pant, Rajesh Khanna and Ajay Maken have won in the subsequent elections.
BJP’s Meenakshi Lekhi, a member of the Union Cabinet, won from the New Delhi constituency in 2014 and 2019. She was replaced for the 2024 elections, as were five other BJP MPs from Delhi.