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High-voltage Delhi campaign wraps up, voting tomorrow

The high-octane Delhi election campaign came to a close on Monday as parties fielded top guns for the last-minute push ahead of the February 5 Assembly elections. Editorial: Battleground Delhi While the BJP uploaded on X a video that showed...
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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj at a roadshow during the last day of campaigning in New Delhi. PTI
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The high-octane Delhi election campaign came to a close on Monday as parties fielded top guns for the last-minute push ahead of the February 5 Assembly elections.

Editorial: Battleground Delhi

While the BJP uploaded on X a video that showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing Delhi’s ruling AAP of failing Class IX students to prevent adverse impact on Class X results, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal claimed his party would comfortably win 55 seats. He also took the occasion to accuse Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar of “surrendering to the BJP in pursuit of a post-retirement job”.

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Union Home Minister Amit Shah wrapped up the campaign for the saffron party, taking on former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia in the Jangpura segment. Shah claimed Delhi had lagged in the development race because AAP chose to stay in constant conflict with the Centre.

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On the last day of the campaign, Congress’ Rahul Gandhi held a roadshow in favour of party candidate Alka Lamba who is taking on Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and BJP’s heavyweight ex-MP Ramesh Bidhuri in Kalkaji. Overall, the campaign was dotted with rigorous rallies, strategic social media campaigns powered by AI and acerbic debates, especially around the quality of Yamuna waters after Kejriwal accused BJP-led Haryana of “poisoning Yamuna waters where it enters Delhi”. The EC intervened in the matter and asked Kejriwal to substantiate the charges.

As the parties vied for votes in the race for the 70-member Delhi Assembly, the BJP clocked a record over 300 rallies in just last week, besides deploying all NDA MPs for door-to-door outreach between February 1 and 3.

AAP held over 100 public meetings and roadshows while the Congress lagged far behind.

On the last day today, Kejriwal and Atishi held a roadshow in Kalkaji while the BJP held 22 rallies with Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and party chief JP Nadda leading the charge.

The canvassing also saw interesting poster wars — BJP’s “AAP-da (disaster) jayegi, Bhajpa aayegi (AAP will be ousted and BJP will come to power), Congress’ “Hogi har zaroorat poori, Congress hain zaroori” and AAP’s “Kejriwal aayenge”.

AAP’s alleged corruption, Delhi’s poor state of infrastructure, alleged Yamuna contamination dominated the poll scene as PM Modi coined the phrase “AAP-da” (disaster) to describe AAP’s decade-long rule in Delhi.

The BJP has not won Delhi in 27 years and sees February 5 as a “now or never” moment.

The BJP’s campaign in Delhi also revolved around alleged settlement of illegal immigrants in Delhi by AAP which accused the saffron party of manipulating electoral roll revision, a charge Election Commission dismissed.

AAP banked on door-to-door campaigns, rallies and town halls to engage the electorate. The party also maintained an aggressive social media presence.

The Congress, viewing the elections as an opportunity to regain lost foothold, banked on Rahul Gandhi and his sister and party’s general secretary Priyanka Gandhi for return. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was seen but barely. In the 2020 polls, 63 of Congress’ 66 candidates had lost deposits.

The 2025 campaign also witnessed the proliferation of AI-powered deepfake videos which AAP and BJP both deployed to target rival leaders. The EC had to issue an advisory asking parties to watermark AI videos.

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