BJP candidate and sitting MP Vijay Goel conducts his election campaign with remarkable gaiety. There are a number of workers shouting slogans, carrying party flags and dancing to the drum beats. Often, he is accompanied by film stars.

The campaign of his main rival, Congress' Jai Prakash Agarwal, is a low-key affair. He runs it from his haveli near Parathewali Gali in the Walled City. Normally, he is accompanied by a couple of people, his driver and a cousin, Dinesh.

In fact, Aggarwal takes pride in the simplicity of his campaign. "There are no paid workers. Whoever works for me is in his personal capacity. There is no arrangement for the lunch of workers. Nobody is offered more than tea." Quite unusual for a Congress candidate.

In a way, Goel's campaign is also not very usual. Though he belongs to a puritanical party which swearsby Bharatiya sanskriti, he is the only candidate in the Capital who has added colour to the polls by inviting a number of movie stars. He has taken the celluloid glamour of Pooja Batra and Poonam Dhillon to the Walled City.

A number of workers and mediapersons are waiting for Goel behind the Golcha cinema. He is supposed to campaign along with Poonam Dhillon, Chunky Pandey and Sonu Walia, three near-former stars of Bollywood.

Goel gets onto an open Maruti Gypsy van along with the film stars and a few workers. People are falling over each other to get a glimpse of the stars. Photographers are desperately looking for a proper angle. One of them shouts, "Oye, jhanda neeche kar" (lower the flag). An elderly BJP activist chides the enthusiastic young workers to keep away their flags from the view of photographers. Publicity is more important than waving flags.

The van comes out on the main road, causing a traffic jam. People are thronging to the vehicle to have a closer look of the stars; someeven sneak in for autographs. A tall, well-built man acts like a barrier between the curious onlookers and the actresses.

After a hundred yards, the Gypsy turns left and enters the crowded locality. It goes along the narrow, maze-like streets. Few are listening to the claims about great victory in Kargil, the able leadership of Atal Behari Vajpayee or the sincerity of Goel. All, householders, shopkeepers, hawkers, burqa-clad women as it is a Muslim-dominated area, are interested in the movie stars.

Aggarwal, however, does not approve of such processions. He walks with very few people with him. But he is a well-known figure in the area. And he also knows people in the area. He stops for a while, chats with a small group, and then moves along.

When he travels in the Zen, the two cellphones ring continuously. Most of the time he is talking, nodding in-between to the the wishing acquaintances outside. He relies on the personal touch with his constituents, which he has built up over the decades.

Aggarwalbelongs to an old business family of the Walled City. His father, Ram Charan Aggarwal, was a freedom fighter and the first deputy mayor of Delhi. Jaiprakash has not only inherited that legacy but also maintained it. Today, he has the image of a leader whom the localites identify with. Confident of his image and popularity, he is sure to win the elections.

His supporters are also quite confident of his victory. But nagging doubts remain. Janata Dal (S) candidate Shoib Iqbal is a problem, as he is likely to secure a number of Muslim votes which Aggarwal would have easily got.

However, Hameed Sagar, who recently quit the Samajwadi Party to join the Congress, does not feel that Iqbal will eat into Aggarwal's votes. "Iqbal has been exposed. He is hand in glove with the BJP. He is just dividing secular votes."

In 1998, Aggarwal had lost the election by about 4,000 votes, and Iqbal had polled 68,000 votes. Though Congressmen refuse to accept, Iqbal is a force to reckon with. He is in regular touch with thepeople in his constituency. Mohammad Ilyas, a hawker selling fruits, says, "Iqbal will get 90 per cent of Muslim votes."

There are also other factors, like Kargil, with the Congress and the BJP interpreting it in different ways. Which interpretation finds more acceptance is yet to be seen. In any case, another keenly contest is more than likely.