Delhi goes to polls on 10 April and the capital region has 7 parliamentary constituencies. The key parties that are in the race in Delhi are BJP, Congress and the AAP.
First we take a look at the key battles and the contestants in each constituency, and after that a quick look at the projections for the polls.
Starting with New Delhi, there's Congress heavyweight and current incumbent MP Ajay Maken. Taking him on is BJP's spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi. AAP has propped up journalist Ashish Khetan against Maken.
It should be noted that New Delhi, which was considered a stronghold of Congress, gave the boot to former CM Sheila Dikshit, who lost by a spectacular margin of 25,864 votes to AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal. But of course that was Kejriwal contesting, and Khetan is certainly no Kejriwal in terms of popularity. Will Lekhi unseat Maken? Thats remains highly unlikely.
Moving on to North-East Delhi: The candidates here include Congress stalwart JP Agarwal, who's also the current MP. AAP's candidate is Professor Anand Kumar from JNU and BJP has put up Bhojpur superstar Manoj Tiwari. It should be noted that last time JP Agarwal beat his opponent in 2009 by over 200,000 votes. Will he have such a smooth sailing this year as well? Given the anti-incumbency that Congress faces, it would be a miracle.
Chandni Chowk: Union Minister Kapil Sibal, the current Congress MP, is up for re-election from this constituency. He's facing AAP leader Ashutosh, who was a former journalist.
Also in the race is Dr HarshVardhan, the man who would have been BJP's CM in the Delhi had the party won absolute majority and formed the government. Will Sibal have an easy time in his constituency? Unlikely given the popularity of Harsh Vardhan who may well unseat him as part of the anti-UPA wave.
South Delhi: In South Delhi, the incumbent Ramesh Kumar is facing AAP's Colonel Devinder Kumar Sehrawat, and BJP's Ramesh Bhiduri. Ramesh Kumar is the brother of Sajjan Kumar, the Delhi Congress leader whose role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots raises questions about him. Then again, Bhidhuri is facing four criminal cases.
East Delhi: This is going to be a battle worth watching given that AAP's Rajmohan Gandhi, who is Mahatma Gandhi's great-grandson and noted historian, will take on Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit. Dikshit has been MP from East since 2004, but could face the wrath of voters given the anti-Congress wave.
However the Congress leader has been confident during his campaigns. The BJP candidate in East Delhi is Mahesh Giri. It should be noted that before Dikshit, East Delhi was a BJP stronghold. BJP has a great chance to make a return in 2014.
West Delhi: Mahabal Mishra from Congress is the current MP from West Delhi but he faces a challenge from Parvesh Singh Saheb of BJP and Jarnail Singh from AAP. Jarnail Singh is the man who threw a shoe at Chidambaram. Parvesh is the son of former Delhi CM from BJP Saheb Singh Verma, so that's a little bit of dynasty from the BJP side, as well.
North West Delhi: Congress MP Krishna Tirath is the incumbent in this constituency. She is currently the women and child development minister. She's facing a challenge from BJP's Udit Raj and AAP stalwart Rakhi Birla. Birla won the Delhi Assembly election and handled the women's department in the 49 day AAP government.
What the pre-poll surveys are saying: Congress is unlikely to repeat the miracle of 2009 when it won all seven seats in Delhi. The routing in the Assembly elections is likely to continue and the grand old party of India will be lucky if it can manage to hold on to a couple of seats.
The real battle is going to be between AAP and BJP and according to the surveys AAP is unlikely to repeat the stellar performance of 2013 Assembly elections. According to CSDS-Lokniti and CNN-IBN's pre-election survey AAP and BJP could end up winning 3 seats each with Congress managing one.
As far as voter communities are concerned, Congress could face a dent in its Muslim vote from AAP, while BJP is likely to get more dalit votes than Congress.
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