Congress opts for mix of old guard and new faces to put past disappointment behind

NEW DELHI: All seven Congress candidates filed their papers on Tuesday, the last day of filing nominations. In view of a triangular fight, the party has fielded a mix of veteran leaders as well as fresh blood to win over the electorate.
In 2014, Congress had faced a humiliating defeat with all its seven candidates finishing behind BJP and AAP. Three candidates had even lost their deposits.
Congress had been thinking about repeating the candidates who had contested the 2009 and 2014 elections (barring Krishna Tirath who had switched to BJP), but changed its strategy just days ago. The party is repeating three candidates this time—Ajay Maken from New Delhi, Mahabal Mishra from West and Jai Prakash Agarwal from Chandni Chowk (he had contested the previous two LS elections from North East Delhi). Arvinder Singh Lovely (East Delhi), Rajesh Lilothia (North West Delhi) and Vijender Singh (South Delhi) are contesting Lok Sabha polls for the first time.
The seventh candidate, former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, is contesting her first Lok Sabha election since her defeat in 1998.
“After our talks on alliance failed, the party decided to field candidates who are the most popular in their respective areas. The candidature of boxer Vijender Singh has given a young look to our team and added zing to the entire election,” said a senior party member.
But Congress candidates face a tough challenge on all seats. The fact that it has a common vote bank with AAP and the votes of the two parties may get divided giving advantage to BJP has made the task tougher.
In North East Delhi, Dikshit faces Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari and AAP’s former Delhi convener Dilip Pandey. The contest between these three leaders in a Poorvanchali and Muslim-dominated constituency will be the most keenly watched.
When asked whom she considers a bigger challenge between Tiwari and Pandey, Dikshit said, “Both of them are a challenge and my endeavour will be to win from this seat.”
Former Union minister Ajay Maken faces sitting BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi and AAP’s traders’ wing in-charge Brijesh Goyal. After filing his nomination, Maken said his constituency had two major issues related to traders and the government employees. “Traders feel the heat of sealing across the city and the Modi government withdrew the benefits of the 7th Pay Commission from government employees. I will bring relief to both the sections,” Maken said.
South Delhi will see an interesting contest between professional boxer Vijender Singh, sitting MP Ramesh Bidhuri and AAP’s Raghav Chadha. The constituency has a substantial number of Gujjar and Jat voters besides a number of unauthorised colonies.
“I am genuinely concerned about employment, which I think is a prominent issue for the youth. And being a sportsperson, I am also keen on working towards developing sports infrastructure. It’s about time we had good infrastructure so that budding athletes can actually flourish,” he said.
In Chandni Chowk, Congress’s Agarwal faces Union minster Harsh Vardhan of BJP and AAP’s Pankaj Gupta