On February 5, India’s national capital Delhi will vote in state assembly elections. The contest is a triangular one between the incumbent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the main challenger and India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Congress.

While the AAP is determined to win a third straight term in power in Delhi, the BJP is just as determined to unseat it. By taking control over the Delhi assembly, it wants to realize its dream of a “double engine” government in Delhi. It has been 27 years since the BJP governed Delhi.

Meanwhile, the Congress is desperate to regain its foothold in Delhi.

The Delhi election is thus in many ways an existential battle for all three parties.

Of the 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly, the AAP currently holds 58, the BJP seven, and the Congress none. Yet, the incumbent AAP is jittery ahead of the elections. Should the AAP not win a third term, the party will be in power in just one state — Punjab.

The party is possibly facing its toughest battle ever. In addition to facing a two-term anti-incumbency voter sentiment, its image as an anti-corruption crusader has been sullied. AAP founder Arvind Kejriwal, once hailed as a middle-class “anti-corruption hero,” is embroiled in a liquor policy scam.

Kejriwal has sought to portray himself as a victim of the “BJP’s political........

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