With the closing of the filing of nomination papers for the Delhi Assembly polls on Saturday, a total of 1,188 applications have been received. On the last day, 781 contenders — including several leaders of the Congress and BJP — submitted their papers. In 2008 Assembly polls, 1,134 had filed their papers, out of which only 940 candidates were found valid after scrutiny; 65 of which withdrew their candidature.
list of candidates who filed their nominations on Saturday includes Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, Congress’ Raj Kumar Chauhan, Mukesh Sharma, Bijender Singh, Jagpravesh Kumar and Vinay Mishra. The BJP’s nominee from Greater Kailash Ajay Malhotra also filed his nomination papers before returning officers on Saturday with former Delhi Mayor Arti Mehra from Malviya Nagar, Karan Singh Tanwar and Manish Sisodia of AAP before respective returning officer.
Arvind Kejriwal, along with scores of supporters, reached the office of the returning officer. He was flanked by his mother Geeta, father Govind Ram and wife Sunita. His party colleagues Pankaj Gupta, Sanjay Singh, Gopal Mohan and Rishikesh were also present.
With having total movable assets of `1.62 lakh, AAP’s New Delhi candidate Arvind Kejriwal is one of the less wealthy contenders in the Delhi Assembly elections. The value of his total assets is above `92 lakh, including immovable assets — two properties worth `55 lakh and `37 lakh. Affidavit submitted by him on Saturday before the returning officer further says his income for financial year 2012-’13 was `2.05 lakh. The value of assets (movable and immovable) of his wife is over `2 crore.
Another heavyweight from the ruling Congress party Raj Kumar Chauhan filed his nominations from Mangolpuri Assembly constituency. Chauhan along with hundreds of supporters reached the office of returning officer in Rampura. The supporters and partyworkers claimed that Chauhan will retain the seat for a fifth consecutive term.
Chauhan, who was confident of a win, said that people will vote for the Congress because of development works in Delhi. “The Delhi Government has changed the face of the Capital in the last 15 years and people will surely vote for the party this time too. If we retain power, we will make all effort to make Delhi a world-class city,” said Chauhan.