Congress corners all 7 Delhi seats for third time since 1952

Congress improved its tally by one this time around to enjoy complete power in all the seven parliamentary constituencies in the capital as it did in 1971 and 1984 Lok Sabha elections since 1952 when Delhi went for general elections for the first time.

In 1952, Delhi had only four Lok Sabha seats and Congress bagged three of them while one was won by a woman candidate, Suchita Kriplani of Krishak Majdoor Praja Party.

She was the first woman candidate to represent the capital in the Lok Sabha.

In 1957 and 1962, Congress retained all the seats which were increased to five namely Delhi Sadar, Outer Delhi, Karol Bagh, Chandani Chowk and New Delhi. Kriplani switched to Congress in 1957 and was re-elected from New Delhi.

In 1967, Delhi had seven Lok Sabha seats of which the Congress retained only one that was Outer Delhi while the rest were bagged by Bhartiya Jan Sangha. In 1971, Congress bagged all seven seats in Delhi with Subhadra Kumari Chauhan being the lone woman parliamentarian to represent Delhi in the Lok Sabha.

Six years later in 1977, Congress lost all seven seats to the then Janata Party due to the anti-emergency wave.

However, in 1980, Congress improved its performance and snatched six seats.

In 1984, riding on the sympathy wave after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, Congress again swept all the seven seats by impressive margins.

Five years later, Congress lost four seats to BJP.

In 1991, Congress managed to get only two seats -- Sadar and Outer Delhi. In 1996, Congress failed to improve its tally but this time won Chandani Chowk and Karol Bagh. Five seats were bagged by BJP.

Congress' sitting MPs of Sadar and Outer Delhi candidates Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar lost to BJP's Vijay Kumar Goel and Krishna Lal Sharma respectively.

In 1998, Congress fared even worse. Meira Kumar was the sole Congress winner from Karol Bagh and the six other seats went to the BJP's kitty. Sheila Dikshit had tried her luck from East Delhi but was defeated by BJP's stalwart Lal Bihari Tiwari.

In 1999, BJP swept all seven seats in Delhi.

In the 14th Lok Sabha elections, the Congress bagged six seats. South Delhi was retained by BJP's VK Malhotra who is now Leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly.