The BJP finally managed to sort out seat-sharing disagreement with its long-time ally at the eleventh hour, leaving four seats to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for the Delhi Assembly elections.
The SAD had demanded 16 seats in the Capital. In the first list of candidates, released on Wednesday evening, the BJP left four seats — Rajouri Garden, Hari Nagar, Kalkaji and Shahdara — for the SAD considering the presence of Punjabi-Sikh population. The decision of giving up Hari Nagar seat to the Akalis has come as a surprise as the seat is at present occupied by Harcharan Singh Balli, who had won the election on BJP ticket in 2008. In the last Assembly polls, the BJP had fielded Jai Gopal Abrol from Kalkaji; but this time, the party has sacrificed the constituency for the SAD.
Hari Nagar Assembly seat has a total of 1,45,786 electorates, including 17 per cent Sikh and 15 per cent Punjabi voters. Kalkaji has seven per cent Sikh and 22 per cent Punjabi voters and the total electoral population of the seat is 1,39,471. Shahdara seat has 1,53,097 votes and the Sikh and Punjabi population there is 2 and 13 per cent respectively. On the other hand, Rajouri Garden comprises of 36 per cent Sikh and 2 per cent Punjabi voters, even though the total number of voters is 1,44,842.
In the 2008 elections, the SAD contested from Adarsh Nagar, Jangpura, Shahdara and Rajouri Garden. It had lost all four seats. This time, the BJP has decided to contest Jungpura on its own and one Pankaj Jain has been declared as party candidate. No name for Adarsh Nagar seat has been announced in the first list, which was released on Wednesday evening. Ravinder Singh Khurana had fought the 2008 elections on SAD ticket from Adarsh Nagar. Congress candidate Mangat Ram Singhal is the sitting MlA from Adarsh Nagar.
The SAD had nominated Jitender Singh Shunty as its candidate in the 2008 Assembly elections from Shahdara, but he had lost the seat to Congress' Narender Nath. Shunty is the sitting councillor of East Delhi Municipal Corporation from Jhilmil Colony. Manjinder Singh Sirsa has contested from Jangpura in 2008 however; Tarvinder Singh Marwah had won the seat. Avtar Singh Hit had contested Assembly election from Rajouri Garden on SAD ticket.