New Delhi : After 11 months of political impasse, Delhi is once again getting ready to vote new government next month. The Election Commission is likely to announce the dates today.
A full-bench meeting of the Election Commission has been called today morning to decide schedule of the elections, a government source said.
Indications are that the elections will be held in a single phase towards the end of the first week of February.
Fresh Assembly elections in the capital were caused from resignation of the Aaam Aadmi Party government’s resignation on February 14 last year after it failed to pilot the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Assembly.
A fractured mandate in the December 2013 poll had propelled AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal to form the government after the BJP that bagged the highest number of seats could not muster the numbers for a majority.
Kejriwal had formed the government after the Congress offered an outside support to it, only to feel cheated when the Congress did not help in introduction of the Jan Lokpal Bill for setting up an anti-corruption ombudsman.
‘Congress may win’
Even while all parties are anxiously waiting for declaration of the election date, former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit sprung a surprise declaration that the Congress would again back the AAP in case of a fractured mandate.
Justifying the earlier decision of the Congress to extend support to AAP after a fractured verdict in the 2013 polls, she told a TV channel, “If a hung-assembly situation arises, the Congress will obviously choose to support AAP over the BJP. We cannot support the BJP which is communal so the natural choice is AAP in Delhi.”
The AAP, however, lost no time in rejecting her offer. “The Congress will not even open their account. They have no ground presence and they are offering us support,” the AAP said in a statement, adding that “the fight is only between the AAP and the BJP.”
