The much-awaited list of BJP candidates for seven lok Sabha seats in Delhi is expected to be announced on Thursday. The Central Election Committee of the BJP will be meeting on Thursday to decide on its third list of candidates. Sources said the party high command may take a call on lS constituencies in Delhi as filing of nominations would begin in the Capital on March 15 and continue till March 22. And candidates would get very little time to campaign in their areas.
According to sources, the party leadership is treading cautiously in picking up the candidates given its performance in the previous elections and joining of the Aam Aadmi Party in the fray. The AAP had made its electoral debut in the Delhi Assembly polls and surprised all winning 28 seats and preventing the BJP from coming to power despite emerging as the single largest party.
Sources said the party would be giving representation of all castes and communities — Jat, Gujjar, Dalit, Bania, Punjabi and women among others while deciding candidates. They, however, said the BJP was awaiting the Congress’ candidate list before releasing its own candidates. Notably, the AAP has already declared its candidates for the seven parliamentary seats in Delhi.
BJP leaders said a delay of every single day was proving dearer to the party as its candidates were left with just over three weeks to prepare for the polls. Voting will be held in the Capital on April 10 and the campaigning would come to an end on April 8.
A host of BJP leaders — including sitting MlAs, councillors and the office bearers —are contending to seek the party ticket for the lok Sabha polls. Some prominent names doing the round as possible candidates include Vijender Gupta, Mahesh Giri, Vani Tripathi, Hardeep Puri, Jagdish Mukhi, Yogender Chandolia, Dr Anil Jain, Pravesh Verma and Ramesh Bidhuri among others.