The Hindu : New Delhi News : Poll campaign in top gear

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 05, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Poll campaign in top gear

By Our Staff Reporter

Sandeep Dikshit, Congress candidate for the East Delhi Lok Sabha seat, with the Delhi Health Minister, A.K.Walia, and the Education Minister, Arvinder Singh Lovely, at an election campaign on Tuesday. Photo: Sandeep Saxena

NEW DELHI, MAY 4. With less than a week to go for the 87-lakh-strong electorate in Delhi to choose their new representatives, the battle for the seven Lok Sabha seats in the Capital has entered a feverish pitch as the contesting candidates and parties are going all out to woo voters. The next few days will witness the entry of national leaders, film stars and television personalities pitching in for various candidates in the run-up to the polling on May 10.

Sensing that this is the most crucial week, the contesting candidates are employing various methods to impress the voters across the city. In fact, a majority of them have not only made the campaign aggressive but are also working out a strategy for polling day including deployment of party workers at the polling stations and booth management. While the BJP candidates hope that the presence of a large number of leaders in the Capital during the next few days, led by the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K.Advani, will certainly help their cause, the Congress is not worried by this carpet-bombing. Its campaign is presently being led by the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, who has been on a whirlwind tour of various parts of Capital to canvass for the party candidates.

Congressmen are clearly excited with the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, scheduled to address a huge public meeting in the Capital on May 8. The party has also enrolled the services of the film star-turned politician, Sunil Dutt, and the newly acquired Neta No.1, Govinda, for campaigning in various parts of the Capital. In fact, the thrust of the candidates has been on personal contact and door-to-door campaigning in their areas in order to touch a sympathetic chord with the voters. In an attempt to build up psychological pressure on the rivals, the Congress has been trying to enrol support of some community or section each day. For instance, some Bahujan Samaj Party leaders have joined the Congress today giving a boost to the party. In addition, the strong Gujjar community has decided to support the Congress candidates in all the constituencies.

This week the candidates are concentrating on tying up the loose ends and working out a strategy to take effective measures in the weak areas. For instance, the Outer Delhi Congress candidate, Sajjan Kumar, is busy visiting the opposition strongholds in a bid to wrest the initiative from his rival, Sahib Singh Verma. For his part, Mr. Verma's campaign got a boost with Mr. Advani addressing a public meeting at Najafgarh in North-West Delhi, a Jat-dominated constituency. Similarly, the South Delhi BJP candidate, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, got Mr. Advani and Mr. Jaitley to canvass for him during the past two days. His Congress rival, R.K. Anand, got film star Shakti Kapoor, music director Bhappi Lahiri, and the heroine of yesteryears Reena Roy to woo the voters.

The high-profile BJP candidate from Delhi Sadar, Vijay Goel, has got together a band of TV and film stars to canvass for him. In addition to this, has ensured the presence of a large number of national BJP leaders in his constituency. In comparison, his rival, Jagdish Tytler, has also got film stars to campaign for him but has refrained from inviting Ms. Dikshit to address any rallies in his area.

In the East Delhi constituency, Sandeep Dikshit of the Congress got film star Nagma and Shakti Kapoor to campaign for him. However, his thrust has been on undertaking padyatras or taking out huge processions in the small lanes and by-lanes of the vast East Delhi constituency.

In the Chandni Chowk Parliamentary constituency, the Congress candidate, Kapil Sibal, has been undertaking mass contact programme and holding interaction with various sections of society. His rival and BJP candidate, Smriti Z. Irani has been focussing on wooing youth and women with a personal touch.

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