The seat-sharing agreement for Lok Sabha polls between the INDIA bloc partners in Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress, was finalised on Saturday, sources said. AAP will be contesting four seats while Congress will field candidates in three constituencies. An official announcement will be made jointly by both parties later today.
AAP candidates will fight in New Delhi, South Delhi, West Delhi, and East Delhi, while Chandni Chowk, North East Delhi, and North West Delhi will be contested by Congress candidates.
Earlier, the AAP had offered the Congress just one of the seven Lok Sabha seats, bringing the discussions into a deadlock.
In the previous two Lok Sabha elections, held in 2014 and 2019, the BJP won all seven seats in the national capital, with a vote share exceeding 50 percent.
The Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely, on Friday, said that the two parties are strong constituents of the opposition alliance and "The India bloc will contest the Lok Sabha elections strongly not only in Delhi, but the whole country".
The Congress has also decided to give one seat to AAP in Haryana and two in Gujarat. While the Haryana seat is likely to be either Gurugram or Faridabad, those in Gujarat include Bharuch and Bhavnagar.
The rapport between the two parties was hit after Arvind Kejriwal's party declared that it would contest all the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab and Chandigarh alone. The AAP has also unilaterally declared its decision on contesting three seats in Assam and also named its candidate for one Lok Sabha seat in Goa.
Earlier this week, Congress and Samajwadi Party also finalised their seat-sharing deal in Uttar Pradesh. Congress will contest 17 Lok Sabha seats while the remaining 63 seats will have candidates from Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) and other alliance partners of the INDIA bloc.
The decision on INDIA bloc seat sharing in Maharashtra is also expected to be announced soon. Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole stated on Friday that discussions between the Congress, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar are underway and a final decision on the seats will be announced shortly.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien said there has been "no change" in the party's stand of contesting all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, amid reports suggesting active talks between Congress and TMC.
