CAPITAL GOODS

WITH ELECTIONS TO THE 70-MEMBER Delhi assembly less than a month away, the BJP, Congress and AAP are busy sharpening their respective poll strategies—from candidate selection to the election campaign to working out the caste arithmetic. Not only will the Delhi election kick off the first electoral contest of 2020, it also comes after the BJP lost power in five states last year and performed below par in a sixth. It will also set the stage for elections in six states in the next 18 months—Bihar in the second half of this year, and Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, West Bengal and Assam in 2021.

Candidate selection is the primary challenge for all three rivals. The fact that it is being micro-managed by the national heads of both the Congress and BJP underlines the significance of winning the national capital. The BJP brass has held back-to-back marathon sessions, chaired by no less than the Union minister for