Delhi Election 2025: CM Atishi vs Cong’s Alka Lamba in Kalkaji seat? A thrilling contest likely

Delhi Election 2025: The Congress party is likely to field its leader, Alka Lamba, against Chief Minister Atishi from the Kalkaji seat in the Delhi assembly elections scheduled for early next year.

Sources said the party is expected to release the second list of 28 candidates soon. Lamba is the president of All India Mahila Congress, a former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and an ex-legislator from Chandni Chowk seat.

Congress released its first list of 21 candidates for the Delhi assembly elections earlier this month. It has fielded former Lok Sabha member and son of three-time Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Sandeep Dikshit, against Arvind Kejriwal from New Delhi seat. Kejriwal has been winning the elections from New Delhi seat for three terms since 2013. 

The elections to the 70-member Delhi assembly are expected to be held in February next year. The Election Commission of India has not announced the dates yet. The term of the current assembly in Delhi expires on February 23, 2025.

AAP, led by Kejriwal, seeks to retain power in Delhi for a third time after its electoral successes in 2015 and 2020. The party won 67 seats in 2015 and 63 in 2020 in the 70-member Assembly.

The AAP has released candidates for all the 70 seats in Delhi. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not yet released any candidate list.

AAP won the Kalkaji seat in 2015 and 2020. Atishi won it in 2020, while Avtar Singh won it in 2015. Atishi became chief minister in September after Kejriwal resigned.

Other Backward Class (OBC) voters have a big influence in the Kalkaji seat. Brahmin, Punjabi and Baniya community voters are also present in good numbers in this assembly segment. The numbers of Dalit and Muslim voters also prove decisive, especially since the AAP and the Congress candidates have been getting their support in the past.

Who is Alka Lamba?

After being in Congress in various capacities for more than 20 years, Lamba quit to join the AAP in December 2014. In February 2015, Lamba was elected to the Delhi Legislative Assembly from Chandni Chowk. She quit AAP in September 2019, citing disrespect for her within the party. On September 6, 2019, she formally returned to the Congress party.

Lamba began her career as a student leader and is a former President of the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU). She is also a former national President of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), former General Secretary of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC), and former Secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).

Lamba was appointed as the All India Mahila Congress President on January 5, 2024.