With barely a month left for the election for the 70-member Delhi Assembly and three major contenders -- the ruling AAP, BJP and the Congress -- gearing up to put up their best show, a veteran leader of the grand old party and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Wednesday claimed that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party will return to power for the third consecutive time.
Chavan's mega-assertion came a day after the Election Commission of India announced February 5 as the day of polls, while it scheduled February 8 as the date of counting of ballots. During an interaction with IANS, Chavan also rued that the Congress and the AAP -- who contested the Lok Sabha polls last year together -- have now parted ways.
Speaking to IANS, Prithviraj Chavan said, "It would have been better if the Congress and AAP sealed a poll deal. It is an important election. Both parties are in the fray."
"I feel the party which is being headed by Arvind Kejriwal is now in a quite strong position to win Delhi election," he mentioned in the very breath.
The alliance partners in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, AAP and Congress, are contesting the Delhi Assembly elections that are to take place soon, separately. They not only snapped ties for the ensuing Assembly polls but are also firing pointed volleys at each other.
As the national capital prepares for a three-cornered high-voltage contest, Chavan's remarks are sure to attract flak from within the party as AAP will project this as 'open admission of defeat' and its role as 'mere vote-cutter' in the Delhi elections by the tall Congress leader from Maharasthra.
The two parties are already in a state of political cross-fire, with Delhi Congress leaders hitting out at the ten-year 'misrule' of AAP dispensation and the latter clapping back.
Days ago, Congress Treasurer Ajay Maken launched an all-out offensive against AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal terming him anti-national while the AAP issued an ultimatum to the grand old party to issue an apology for the same. This has set the stage for a further fierce political fight between the two INDIA bloc allies.
Prithviraj Chavan also made a strong pitch to give up on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and demanded returning to traditional ballot papers.
"EVMs were not proven as erroneous and defective, but such a thing hasn't been totally ruled out also. EVMs can err and riggish too: Germany is said to have found out the fraud in EVMs.
The former Maharashtra CM claimed that, despite years of conducting polling through EVMs, the European country has reverted to the ballot papers.
Delhi is all set to undergo polling on February 5 and the counting of votes will take place on February 8.
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