While Congress harped on development it brought to the city, BJP picked holes in the ruling party's claims asking voters to give "some rest" to the grand old party while raising the decibel levels on terrorism.

BJP's new development mascot Modi did a whirlwind tour in the city addressing about ten election meetings raising Congress' alleged "failure" in tackling terrorism and price rise besides questioning the rationale for going for "killer" projects like Bus Rapid Transit Corridor.

Congress tried to counter the BJP offensive with Rahul Gandhi, who made his debut in election campaigning in Delhi, claiming that the saffron party was raising the bogey of terrorism as they have "no dreams to offer" on development.

On the other hand, BSP focussed its campaign on winning over minorities and Dalits in the capital besides assuring upper caste voters that it was not against them by offering quota for poor among them.

Charges were also traded at each other on a number of local issues like regularisation of unauthorised colonies, sealing and demolitions, BRT corridor, demand for statehood for Delhi and privatisation of power distribution.

Besides these, the encounter at Jamia Nagar in south Delhi, in which two suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists were killed, gave Congress' four-month-old ally Samajwadi Party an opportunity to virtually paint the ruling party in an anti-minority light.

The election season in the capital began with intense lobbying for party nominations, which turned almost violent with supporters of some aspirants heckling BJP Delhi chief Harsh Vardhan and damaging the car of his Congress counterpart Jai Prakash Aggarwal.

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