Arvind Kejriwal Dismisses BJP’s Claim Of Contesting From ‘Safer’ Seat In Delhi Polls – News18

Last Updated:January 09, 2025, 13:28 IST

Arvind Kejriwal has made it clear that he would not contest on two seats, as claimed by the BJP leaders, and would stick to only New Delhi constituency in the Delhi polls.

Arvind Kejriwal to contest only on one seat (Photo: YouTube/AAP)

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday rejected the BJP’s claims that he would contest the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls from two seats — New Delhi and another “safer” seat.

“I will contest from only one seat,” Kejriwal said while responding to a media query at a press conference.

The BJP leaders had claimed that Kejriwal would contest the Delhi polls from two seats, sensing defeat from his current New Delhi constituency which he has won thrice in the Assembly Elections — 2013, 2015, and 2020.

‘Don’t Run Away From New Delhi Seat’: Parvesh Verma

BJP MP Parvesh Verma, who is up against Kejriwal in the New Delhi seat in the February 5 Assembly polls, asked the AAP chief not to “run away” from the constituency and said that the people of the seat will ensure his defeat in the polls.

“Arvind Kejriwal Ji, the Jat community fully understands your political ploys. Don’t think of running away from the New Delhi seat this time. You’ve fallen into the hands of the Jats, and all 36 communities of New Delhi are ready to ensure your security deposit is forfeited,” Verma tweeted.

BJP Claims Kejriwal To Contest On Two Seats

Parvesh Verma earlier claimed that Kejriwal may not contest from his traditional seat or may contest from two seats.

BJP leader Amit Malviya also claimed that Kejriwal, sensing defeat in from New Delhi, is mulling contesting from two seats.

“Arvind Kejriwal is losing the election in New Delhi, which is why he is continuously making baseless allegations about the voter list, and now he is talking about contesting from two seats. How is it possible that only the voter list of New Delhi has issues, and the rest are fine? Was Kejriwal winning through fraudulent votes all along, and is he now struggling because those votes are no longer in his favour?” Malviya said in a post on X.

Several media reports also surfaced claiming that Kejriwal may opt for two seats this time instead of one. Some reports cited AAP’s purported internal survey showcasing Kejriwal behind in the triangular race with Parvesh Verma and Sandeep Dikshit.

Reports claimed that AAP leaders have been asked to find a second ‘safer’ seat for Kejriwal, adding that Burari can be one such constituency.

However, Kejriwal dismissed all such reports and claims and clarified that he would contest from the New Delhi seat only and would not opt for any other one besides the existing one.

Delhi will go to Assembly polls on February 5 and the counting of votes will take place on February 8.