The gains of going it alone

Days after AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal restated that his party will not align with the Congress in the upcoming Delhi assembly elections, the party released its final list of candidates. Last week, the Congress announced its first list of 21 candidates, with former MP Sandeep Dikshit set to take on Kejriwal in the New Delhi constituency. The two parties contested the general election as INDIA bloc allies, though the alliance had little impact in Delhi — the BJP won all seven seats with a 54.35% vote share as against the Opposition’s 43.08%. Evidently, the Delhi electorate votes differently in general and assembly elections. Conventional wisdom suggests that an alliance with the Congress could help the AAP, which is battling anti-incumbency, by preventing a division of the Opposition votes, but the parties have drifted apart after the parliamentary polls.