General elections: AAP's Raghav Chadha says he has the blessings of the people in South Delhi
Raghav Chadha, the Aam Aadmi Party's candidate from South Delhi, took a swipe at his rivals after casting his vote as the turn of the national capital came today to participate in the Lok Sabha election on the sixth phase.
"There's a tough competition between Ramesh Bidhuri and Vijender Singh as to who will come second," Mr Chadha told NDTV.
Ramesh Bidhuri is the BJP's candidate and Vijender Singh is fighting on a Congress ticket.
"I am in very comfortable position, very happy. I pray to god that this election should be an election when the country is freed from the anti-democratic dictatorial duo of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and (BJP chief) Amit Shah," said the 30-year-old chartered accountant, who also serves as the AAP's spokesperson.
On whether South Delhi is known to lean towards a voting pattern on caste lines, and if he would get the support of Jats and Gujjars, who otherwise may vote for either the BJP or the Congress candidate, Mr Chadha said, "I don't look at the election from a caste standpoint. I think people cutting across caste and religious lines, from all socio-economic backgrounds, everyone is voting for the AAP, everyone is blessing me."
He said he is "personally very satisfied with the entire campaign and the response is overwhelming".
"People standing in queues hugged me, they blessed me. They gave me their ashirvad (blessing). I pray to god my hard work should be rewarded," the AAP leader said.
Mr Chadha joined politics in 2012 when the Aam Aadmi Party was formed from its former self, the India Against Corruption group.
Mr Bidhuri won the South Delhi seat in 2014 with 497,980 votes. Delhi has seven Lok Sabha seats.