Parties gear up for Delhi showdown

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Delhi will vote to elect a new Assembly on February 7, the Election Commission announced on Monday. The previous Assembly polls, in end-November 2013, had led to a hung House with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), emerging as the single largest party with 32 seats (including one seat won by ally Shiromani Akali Dal) but four short of the majority mark of 36-seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), with 28 seats, formed the government with outside support from the Congress (eight seats). The Arvind Kejriwal-led government quit after 49 days. President's Rule was imposed thereafter and the Assembly was finally dissolved in November 2014. The BJP won all seven seats in the Lok Sabha elections in May 2014.