With just a few months to go for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, seat-sharing between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress, both members of the Opposition’s INDIA alliance, in Delhi, has been finalised and the announcement will be made soon, sources told Indian Express.
The decision has been finalised after several rounds of deliberations over the months. Sources from both parties confirmed that they had settled for a four-three seat-sharing formula, with AAP contesting four constituencies and Congress on three.
“Yes, the seat-sharing agreement for Delhi has been reached between both parties; we will disclose which seat will be contested by a candidate from which party shortly,” a senior AAP leader told The Indian Express.
The AAP will field candidates from the South Delhi, West Delhi, North West Delhi and New Delhi seats, while the Congress will contest from the Chandni Chowk, East Delhi and North East Delhi constituencies, the sources in the Aam Aadmi Party said, PTI reported.
All the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital are currently held by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The seat-sharing agreement, the official announcement for which is expected soon, is a significant step forward for the INDIA bloc, which has struggled to seal seat-sharing deals with just weeks to go for the Lok Sabha election.
Set up in June, to unite the opposition and defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party – the opposition bloc has already lost a key member – Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and, potentially Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtra Lok Dal – both to the BJP.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) has also pulled back to the fringes of the bloc, snubbing seat-share talks in West Bengal after several attacks on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by Congress’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.