Tomorrow more than 13 million registered voters will vote for a new Legislative Assembly in Delhi. A former police officer, Kiran Bedi, is the Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate for the post of chief minister. Arvind Kejriwal, leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, is running against her. After last election, the latter ran the capital territory for 49 days. The Congress party, which governed Delhi for 15 years, has no chance of winning.

New Delhi (AsiaNews/Agencies) - More than 13 million people will go to the polls tomorrow in Delhi to elect the territory's new Legislative Assembly. The main contenders are the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian people's Party or BJP), which control's India's central government, and the anti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party (Common Man's Party or AAP). The Indian Congress Party, which ruled the territory for 15 years, does not seem to have the numbers needed to do better than third place.

Delhi is a union (federal) territory of India.  One of its districts, New Delhi, is the national capital. This is why tomorrow's vote is of particular importance to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Since his victory in May 2014, he has dominated the political scene and has helped his BJP win in all state elections since.

However, Delhi is considered a real test for the nationalist party, which failed to win a majority in December 2013 elections to the Delhi Legislative Assembly. A new defeat would not only interrupt the party's long string of successes, but could revitalise the opposition.

The outcome will depend a lot on the two main candidates. The BJP picked Kiran Bedi (pictured, right), 65. After joining the police force in 1972, she became its first woman police officer. During her career at the Indian Police Service, she was posted to the Delhi Prisons as inspector general, overseeing among other things Tihar Jail.

After retirement in 2007, she became a leading figure in the anti-corruption movement founded in 2011 by Anna Hazare. However, she left in 2012, opposed to the decision by another member of the movement, Arvind Kejriwal, to create the Aam Aadmi Party.

Since then, Bedi has restrained her criticism of the BJP - which is why many in the party still do not want her as a candidate in Delhi - and began to praise Narendra Modi.

Arvind Kejriwal, founder of the anti-corruption party, is the other candidate for the post of Delhi chief minister. The 46-year-old already ran in December 2013 in Delhi, setting up a minority administration with the support of the Congress party. However, he remained in office only 49 days, and quit in protest against the main parties.

Since then, Kejriwal has repeatedly apologised for leaving the city without an elected government for almost a year. Now, he said he wants to run a stable administration, lower taxes and keep his promises, like free Wi-Fi. Several analysts believe he can win, and even get an absolute majority.

In order to counter Kejriwal's popularity, Narendra Modi took to the campaign trail, portraying his rival as a "backstabber" who betrayed voters last time round by quitting so early.

• india
• delhi
• union
• territory
• election
• legislative
• assembly