You will be surprised and shocked to know that the Gandhi family, which considers the Congress party as its synonym, did not vote for the Congress in this Lok Sabha election. Now I will tell you why. Sonia Gandhi of the Gandhi-Nehru family, her son Rahul Gandhi, daughter Priyanka Gandhi, son-in-law Robert Vadra and Priyanka Gandhi’s son, all are voters of New Delhi seat. Call it a coincidence or the compulsion of the alliance that this time Congress could not get the New Delhi seat in the alliance and from here, not Congress but Aam Aadmi Party candidate Somnath Bharti was contesting against the BJP candidate. Although it would not be right to say whom the Gandhi-Nehru family would have voted for. But it is certain that these leaders were deprived of voting for Congress. In this Lok Sabha election, Congress has formed ‘India Alliance’ against BJP and NDA, and due to this alliance, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party are contesting the Lok Sabha elections together in Delhi.
There was a time when the Congress party was dominant in Delhi, but in this election, Congress is contesting only on three seats out of seven seats as the B-team of Aam Aadmi Party, due to which the New Delhi seat went to AAP’s account. It is also necessary to mention here that how deep is the relationship of Congress with New Delhi seat, on which the eyes of the whole country are fixed.
New Delhi is the most prestigious seat in the country
The New Delhi seat came into existence after independence in 1951. Since 1951, there has not been a single Lok Sabha election in which Congress has not contested from this seat.
Since the first election on this seat in 1952, a total of 19 elections have been held, out of which BJP has won the maximum number of times, i.e. 10 times. In the elections held so far on the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat, women candidates have won 4 times. The first woman MP among them was Sucheta Kriplani. She won consecutively in the first and second Lok Sabha elections. At the same time, Meenakshi Lekhi was elected MP twice from BJP in the 16th and 17th Lok Sabha.
These giants won the elections
In the 1952 Lok Sabha elections, Sucheta Kriplani won the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat on behalf of the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party and became the first MP from here. In the second Lok Sabha election in 1957, she was elected MP from this seat on a Congress ticket.
In the 1977 elections, senior BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee won. In the 1980 elections too, Vajpayee won.
In the 10th Lok Sabha, elections were held twice on this seat between 1991-96. Lal Krishna Advani was again fielded from BJP. Rajesh Khanna, who was contesting his first election, gave a tough fight to Advani and lost by just 1589 votes. Since, at that time Advani had contested from two seats, he left the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat. By-elections were held on this seat in 1992 and Rajesh Khanna won. After that, Lal Krishna Advani became MP from BJP for three consecutive times between 1996 and 2004 for the 11th, 12th and 13th Lok Sabha. After Advani, Jagmohan also won three consecutive times on BJP ticket in the elections of 1996, 1998 and 1999.
Congress leader Ajay Maken tasted victory from New Delhi Lok Sabha seat in 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha elections. In 2004, he defeated Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jagmohan. After Maken, BJP’s Meenakshi Lekhi won the 2014 and 2019 general elections by defeating Congress’ Ajay Maken both times.
In this election, BJP has cut the ticket of Meenakshi Lekhi and fielded Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of senior leader Sushma Swaraj. Somnath Bharti of Aam Aadmi Party has contested against her on the alliance of Congress.
Tags: Aam Aadmi Party, Congress, Lok Sabha Elections, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi
FIRST PUBLISHED : May 26, 2024, 16:29 IST