After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) high command ticked off Delhi BJP leadership for not sending enough names for consideration for contesting seven Lok Sabha seats in the national Capital, the State unit added more names. According to state BJP leaders, the list contains names of 31 probable candidates for the seven parliamentary seats.
Amid speculations, name of firerand Sadhvi Ritambhara has also been added for East Delhi seat where sitting Member of Parliament (MP) is Mahesh Giri of BJP.
If party sources are to believed, former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir has emerged as the front-runner for the prestigious New Delhi constituency.
Names of former North Delhi Mayor Ravinder Gupta, Mohan Lal Gihara, BJP MLA OP Sharma, Delhi BJP vice-president Kuljeet Chahal, Dharamveer Singh and Ruby Yadav have been recommended to the party high command.
BJP had won all the seven seats in Delhi in 2014 and faces a daunting task of retaining its 2014 tally as possibilities of an alliance between the AAP and the Congress is still in the air.
The first meeting on candidates’ selection was chaired by Delhi State Election in-charge and Union Minister Nirmala Sithraman on Friday. However, the list was shot down by the central leadership as many names including that of the celebrities were missing. The Delhi unit sent a fresh list of candidates to Central Parliamentary Board (CPB), an office-bearer said.