New Delhi, May 4 -- For three-time MLA and former education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, it is an important election. While his party, the Congress, is hoping to win back the lost ground in the city, which it ruled for 15 years, a win in this election will help Lovely cement his position further in the party, especially after his brief exit just ahead of the municipal elections in 2017, during which he had joined the the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He is pitted against Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Atishi and BJP's Gautam Gambhir, a former international cricketer. Lovely calls them "political tourists" and distinguishes himself saying that while his rivals are active on Twitter, he works on the ground. He believes the real contest in East Delhi is between the Congress and the BJP and, therefore, people will have to choose between a 'chowkidar' and a 'sewadar'. A former education minister, Lovely criticised the AAP government in Delhi for doing little for the education system. Excerpts from an interview: ...