The Malviya Nagar seat that comes under the south Delhi Lok Sabha constituency has always remained with the party in power in the national capital. In 2013 and 2015 Bharti won the seat comfortably by defeating BJP's Nandini Sharma and two-time Congress MLA Yoganand Shastri. In 2013 Assembly polls, the debutant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate defeated Congress's sitting MLA Kiran Walia and BJP's Aarti Mehra.
Before the 2013 polls, the Congress kept on winning the seat the seat which witnesses a vote share of Jats, Gurjars and trader community, during its 15-year rule in the city from 1998 to 2013. In 2008 Congress' Walia defeated BJP's Ram Bhaj by a margin of 4,000 votes. In 2003 and 1998 polls, Congress' Shastri represented the seat twice by defeating the BJP candidates.
The BJP had represented the Malviya Nagar seat only once in 1993 after its candidate Rajendra Gupta won by a margin of 250 votes. The Malviya Nagar seat has around 1.51 lakh voters with over 81,000 male and over 69,000 female voters, respectively.
This election will be a battle for Bharti to prove his mettle in the polls as the BJP and Congress are all geared up to give a tough fight to the two-time sitting MLA. Assembly polls for the 70-member house in the national capital are scheduled on February 8 and counting of votes will take place on February 11.
The AAP had won 67 out of 70 seats in the 2015 polls, while the BJP managed to win three and the Congress drew a blank.
( With inputs from IANS )