Delhi polls: 699 candidates in fray, New Delhi leads the way

NEW DELHI: The prestigious New Delhi assembly constituency has once again earned the distinction of being the most popular, with 23 candidates trying their electoral luck this time, which is the highest in the city. In the 2020 assembly polls, 28 candidates were in the fray from this constituency.


The Patel Nagar constituency and Kasturba Nagar have just five candidates each, which is the lowest. In 2020, only four candidates fought the election from Patel Nagar, reserved for the Scheduled Caste candidates, which was the lowest in the last assembly polls. There are 70 assembly constituencies in Delhi, where voting will take place in a single phase on Feb 5.

According to the Delhi election office, a total of 699 candidates are in the fray this time, just 27 more than in 2020 when 672 candidates were in the fray. Since the data on the election commission's website was not updated till late evening, the exact number of men, women, and third-gender candidates was not known.

Senior election officials said that a total of 1,522 nomination documents were received from 981 candidates during the week-long nomination exercise, which started on Jan 10 after the notification of elections and ended on Jan 17. The documents were scrutinised on Jan 18, while Monday was the last day to withdraw candidature.

Of the 70 seats, there are 38 where less than 10 candidates are in the fray. While Tilak Nagar, Mangolpuri, Tri Nagar, Greater Kailash, Gandhi Nagar, and Karol Bagh have six each, Chandni Chowk, Krishna Nagar, Trilokpuri, Delhi Cantonment, Rajendra Nagar, Narela, Bawana, Shakur Basti, Malviya Nagar, Deoli, and Palam have seven each.

With 16, Janakpuri has the second-highest number of candidates, followed by 15 each in Rohtas Nagar, Karawal Nagar and Laxmi Nagar.

While AAP and Congress have fielded their candidates on all 70 seats, BJP is contesting on 68, while it has allowed Janata Dal (United) and Loktantrik Jan Shakti Party to field one candidate each, in a pre-poll seat-sharing arrangement. Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded its candidates on 69 seats.

In the 2020 elections, 672 candidates were in the fray, which was the lowest ever.

In 1993, when the Delhi assembly was reconstituted, 1,316 contested the poll, while the number decreased to 815 in 1998. In 2003, 817 contested the election, while 875 locked horns in 2008. The number marginally increased to 880 in the 2013 assembly polls. In 2015, 673 candidates contested the elections.