Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has the last laugh in the selection and distribution of tickets to all the sitting MlAs. The stormy meeting of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Election Committee meeting on Monday saw Dikshit emerging triumphant with the Committee members stamping their approval on her move to get tickets for all those who had won in 2008.
The Election Committee is reportedly agreed to recommend the names of all sitting MlAs, barring those MlAs having criminal cases, for the coming Assembly polls. For remaining seats, Congress’ Election Committee failed to finalise a list of probable candidates for Delhi Assembly polls following differences among members and left it to the AICC screening panel to shortlist the ticket aspirants.
The Committee has also authorised Delhi Congress president Jai Prakash Agarwal and Dikshit to finalise a list of probable candidates for all 70 constituencies. According to sources, there were sharp differences among members on several seats, including Jangpura, Okhla, Badli, Narela, Malviya Nagar and Rajender Nagar where objections have been raised against the sitting MlAs; it has been decided to form a panel of probable candidates. After finalising the panel of probables, the list will be sent to Central Screening Committee headed by
V Narayansamy for further approval. The other members of the panel include Bhubaneshwar Kalita, Shakeel Ahmed, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Jai Prakash Agarwal, Dikshit and Kuldip Nagra. The Screening Committee will send its recommendation to the Central Election Committee headed by party President Sonia Gandhi.
Delhi Congress president Jai Prakash Agarwal said that the Committee has authorised him and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to finalise a panel of probable candidates for all 70 seats.
Sources said that there was consensus on over two dozen seats among the members and it has decided to recommend the names of sitting MlAs. The name of Rajouri Garden MlA Dayanand Chandela has been kept on hold due to criminal cases against him. Chandela has criminal cases against him and that was opposed by the committee members in the light of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s stand for having no truck with the tainted names.
It is noteworthy that during the last meeting, Dikshit has urged to give tickets to all sitting MlAs but some members have opposed as they are either seeking ticket for him or their children. According to sources, veteran Congress leader Prem Singh, Amit Malik and Tajdar Babar have opposed the Committee’s move to recommend the name of sitting MlAs from 32 seats. They demanded that the Committee recommend the panel of three probable candidates for each seats. Some members also objected to nepotism, saying MPs are pushing the names of their aides and relatives for the coming Assembly polls.
“Due to sharp differences among Committee members, it was decided to form a panel of probable candidates on six seats where serious objections have been raised. For the 28 seats where the Congress candidates had lost the seat either to BJP or Independents, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Delhi Congress president Jai Prakash Agarwal will finalise the list of probable candidates,” said sources.
Sources said that Committee member Tajdar Babar has opposed the name of Tarvinder Singh Marwah from Jangpura as his son Farhad Suri is seeking ticket from this constituency. Similarly, Rajya Sabha MP Parvez Hashmi has jumped in the fray of Assembly polls and seeking ticket from Okhla while Dikshit has promised to give ticket to Asif Mohammed Khan. Asif has recently joined the Congress party. As far as Devender Yadav is concerned, his name was opposed by Union Minister Krishna Tirath, who has alleged that there are criminal cases against him. It is learnt that Yadav has conveyed to Committee members and party leaders that there is no FIR against him in any criminal cases. Tirath has also opposed the name of Jaswant Rana from Narela saying he will not be able to win the election this time and he is probably a weak candidate. Jitender Kochchar who is trying to get ticket from Malviya Nagar has opposed the candidature of Prof Kiran Walia from Malviya Nagar, alleging she will be weak candidate due to non-performance.
Cong MlAs waiting for a ticket
Jaswant Singh Rana (Narela)
Education Higher Secondary
Delhi Elections 2008 Summary
Total votes 1,90,130
Total votes received 34,662
Nearest rival Sharad Kumar (BSP)
Total votes received 33,830
Devender Yadav (Badli)
Education Engineering
Delhi Elections 2008 Summary
Total votes 1,72,304
Total votes received 39, 215
Nearest rival Ajesh Yadav (BSP)
Total votes received 25,611
Ramakant Goswami (Rajinder Nagar)
Education MA, Diploma in Journalism
Delhi Elections 2008 Summary
Total votes 1,35,691
Total votes received 29, 394
Nearest rival Asha Yogi (BJP)
Total votes received 23,988
Professor Kiran Walia (Malviya Nagar)
Education MA, Diploma in research methodology
Delhi Elections 2008 Summary
Total votes 1,27,177
Total votes received 31,283
Nearest rival Ram Bhaj (BJP)
Total votes received 27,551
Tarvinder Singh Marwah (Jangpura)
Education BA
Delhi Elections 2008 Summary
Total Votes 1,42,978
Total votes received 37,261
Nearest rival MS Sirsa (SAD-BJP)
Total votes received 23,310
Asif Mohammad Khan (Okhla)
Education Higher Secondary
Delhi Elections 2008 Summary
Total votes 2,09,643
Total votes received 23, 394
Nearest rival Brahm Singh (BSP)
Total votes received 18,387
Dayanand Chandela (Rajouri Garden)
Education Senior Secondary & Diploma
in Homoeopathy
Delhi Elections 2008 Summary
Total votes 1,43,104
Total votes received 31,130
Nearest rival Avtar Singh Hit (SAD)
Total votes received 31,084