With just over a month to go for the Assembly polls, the BJP is virtually struggling to find suitable candidates in at least six Assembly constituencies. These include the New Delhi Assembly seat where the BJP is yet to shortlist a candidate who can match Sheila Dikshit’s stature.
The other Assembly segments include Muslim-dominated seats like Matia Mahal and Okhla, Jat-dominated Najafgarh and other constituencies like Gandhi Nagar in East Delhi and Chandni Chowk and Sadar Bazar in Central Delhi. A senior Delhi BJP leader said the party is mulling various options, including fielding a celebrity against Dikshit.
“The BJP is exploring all available options. This includes projecting a Bollywood personality from the New Delhi constituency,” he said. While Dikshit had defeated Vijay Jolly in 2008; in 1998 and 2003 Assembly elections too, Dikshit had comfortably won from the Gole Market Assembly constituency, which was diluted in delimitation exercise in 2008 and a new Assembly seat of New Delhi was carved out of it.
Similarly, in Matia Mahal and Okhla, the BJP is grappling to project popular faces who could bring these seats to BJP’s fold. In 2008, despite fielding a Muslim candidate, Talat Sultana, the BJP had lost the contest to Shoaib Iqbal — the four-time MlA from the seat. In the Jat-dominated Najafgarh Assembly segment, the BJP had failed to field a strong candidate in previous elections too. A party leader said, “In Najafgarh, BJP candidate came third or fourth in previous Assembly polls. The party even failed to project a strong candidate who could at least emerge the runner-up. Situation is no different this year too.”
Some other constituencies in Central and East Delhi like Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazar and Gandhi Nagar have also been invincible fortresses for the BJP. Gandhi Nagar in East Delhi is represented by Delhi’s Minister Arvinder Singh lovely.
Similarly, Chandni Chowk and Sadar Bazar seats too have been traditional Congress domains where the BJP has been unable to give the Congress a tough fight.