New Delhi, Feb. 5 -- Around 15.5 million voters across Delhi will head to the polling booths starting 7am on Wednesday in the first electoral battle of 2025, the culmination of a high-voltage assembly contest for the Capital that will have deep reverberations in national politics.

Across 70 seats - ranging from the bustling markets of Lajpat Nagar and Rajinder Nagar and the middle-class enclaves of GK-1 and Civil Lines, to the snaking alleys of Chandni Chowks and the tree-lined avenues of Jor Bagh - the Capital will decide the futures of 699 candidates in 13,766 polling stations in what is the most closely fought assembly elections in years.

The electorate will straddle impossible contrasts - urban and rural, rich and poor, and castes a...