Not all heirs of political big shots in the BJP were fortunate enough to secure Assembly tickets in the first list of candidates announced on Wednesday. The party gave tickets to children to three senior BJP leaders; two of them being the sitting MlAs.
The BJP fielded Ajay Malhotra — son of Greater Kailash MlA VK Malhotra from this seat, while Rajeev Babbar — son of Tilak Nagar legislator OP Babbar replaces his father. VK Malhotra — currently the leader of Opposition in the Delhi legislative Assembly — was not keen on contesting the elections. Similarly, OP Babbar, has been representing the Tilak Nagar seat since 1993, managed to convince the Central leadership for a party ticket to his son. Rajeev Babbar is currently the Delhi BJP spokesperson. On the other hand, Pravesh Verma — son of former CM Sahib Singh Verma — also managed to get a party ticket. He will be contesting from Jat-dominated Mehrauli Assembly segment. He was seeking a ticket from Mundka Assembly seat which is being represented by BJP's Manoj Shokeen. The party has once again repeated Shokeen from the seat. However, family of another ex-CM Madan lal Khurana was ignored by the Central Election Committee of the BJP.
Khurana's elder son Vimal Khurana was seeking the party ticket from Moti Nagar Assembly constituency but the party reposed its faith in sitting MlA Subhash Sachdeva. Similarly, BJP MlA from Tilak Nagar, HS Balli was also eyeing a ticket for his son, but the seat went to the kitty of BJP's ally SAD.Meanwhile, the party has once again fielded four women candidates in the polls fray. These include Arti Mehra from Malviya Nagar, Susheela Bagadi from Sultanpur Mazra, Poornima Vidyarthi from Patel Nagar and Shikha Rai from Kasturba Nagar. Mehra is currently the BJP national secretary and former Mayor of Delhi. In 2008 elections too, the BJP had given tickets to four women candidates. Talat Sultana was BJP's candidate from Matia Mahal constituency; the party had given the ticket to Asha Yogi from Rajinder Nagar segment. Similarly, BJP had fielded former Mayor Anita Arya from Patel Nagar constituency; Kamaljeet had managed to secure party ticket from Matiala seat. However, all four candidates had lost to the Congress.