With just couple of weeks to go for the February 5 Delhi Assembly polls, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, BJP’s Parvesh Verma and Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit, who are contesting from New Delhi assembly constituency ,have intensified their efforts to woo voters.

This time, the prestigious New Delhi seat is witnessing a triangular contest with political heavyweights–Kejriwal, Verma and Dikshit- pitted against each other.

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It is the fourth time, Kejriwal has filed his nomination from the New Delhi assembly constituency.

In the 2013 Delhi Assembly polls, Kejriwal won the seat against Congress leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. In the 2015 Assembly polls, the AAP supremo defeated BJP candidate Nupur Sharma by a margin of more than 35 per cent. In the 2020 polls, he got 46,758 votes, defeating BJP’s Sunil Kumar Yadav by a margin of more than 30 per cent.

The election campaign for the 2025 Delhi Assembly polls has become a battleground for the AAP, BJP, and Congress, with all parties trading accusations of corruption and misgovernance.

Meanwhile, Kejriwal faces allegations in connection with the excise policy case. The Centre has granted the Enforcement Directorate (ED) permission to prosecute him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). This follows approval from Lt. Governor VK Saxena.

Kejriwal and his party have been accused of accepting bribes from the “South Group,” a cartel alleged to have controlled liquor sales and benefited from the Delhi government’s 2021-22 excise policy.

Currently out on bail, he has denied the allegations and accused the BJP of using central agencies to target political rivals.

The “Sheesh Mahal” controversy, regarding purported extravagant expenditures on Kejriwal’s official residence during his tenure as Chief Minister, has also become a central issue in the campaign.

Meanwhile, former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma’s son Parvesh Verma from BJP exuded confidence and said his AAP rival is going to lose the elections and the BJP will form its government on February 8.

Verma, a Jat leader, had also slammed Kejriwal on the reservation issue for the community, saying: “Kejriwal was responsible for the AAP government’s failure to get a resolution passed on Jat reservation in Delhi Assembly and send it to the Centre.”

The BJP candidate’s political career began when he contested the Mehrauli Vidhan Sabha constituency in the 2013 assembly election, which he won by defeating the incumbent MLA Yoganand Shastri. He then went on to win the West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency in the 2014 general elections. In 2019, Verma won a second term as MP from West Delhi.

On the other hand,Sandeep Dikshit, son of another former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who is also contesting from here, has expressed confidence in securing a victory in the upcoming elections.

A former East Delhi MP, he said he is optimistic about the party’s prospects, and that his meetings with residents have shown a positive shift in sentiment toward the Congress. “I have a very good feeling about our chances,” he stated, adding that after meeting numerous people and gauging their opinions on other political parties, he realised that there was growing support for Congress.

The election for the 70-member Assembly is set for February 5, with the counting of votes scheduled for February 8.