The Delhi Congress on Tuesday announced the names of 12 of its 13 candidates for the municipal corporation bypolls scheduled to be held on May 15. The AAP was the first to start off the block as they had announced the names of their candidates on March 10 while Delhi BJP is yet to announce the names of its candidates.
The Delhi Congress is yet to name its candidate for Nanakpura ward. Of the 13 wards where by-elections will be held, seven fall under the jurisdiction of SDMC, four in NDMC and two in EDMC.
The youngest candidate in the Congress list is Yogita Rathi, 32, from Munirka West (RK Puram), while Mahesh Khari, 54, from Wajirpur (Wazirpur) is the oldest, Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken said.
Former councillor Satpal Sethi will contest from Nawada ward (Uttam Nagar) seat. Other candidates include Ashok Bhardwaj (Qamruddin Nagar ward in Nangloi Jat), Bhagmal Sharma (Shalimar Bagh North in Shalimar Bagh constiuency), Obaid Khan (Ballimaran), Rajesh Yadav (Vikas Nagar in Vikas Puri constituency), Sudha Sinha (Matiala), Joginder Tanwar (Bhati ward in Chhattarpur constituency), Gyanendra Mawi (Tehkhand in Tugalakabad), Anand Kumar (Khichripur in Kondli reserved seat) and Pankaj luthra (Jhilmil ward from Shahdara).
Of the 12 candidates, four are Gurjar, two Brahmin while representation also given from from Jat, Punjabi, Yadav and Muslims respectively.
Sources said Bhardwaj is closed to former MlA Master Bijendra while Khari is closed to former MlA Hari Shankar Gupta. Mawi had contested last municipal election on BJP ticket and lost. Now he is a Congress candidate. Joginder Tanwar is son of former MlA Balram Tanwar. Sudha Singh was ex BJP leader who is considered close to former MP Mahabal Mishra.
The erstwhile unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi was trifurcated in 2012 into North, South and East Delhi Municipal Corporations or NDMC, SDMC and EDMC. The notification for the by-polls will be issued next Monday and votes will be polled on May 15. Counting will take place on May 17.
The Delhi Congress had been at the forefront in demanding holding of by-elections to the vacant seats and even filed a petition in the High Court. The poll schedule was announced by the State Election Commission on Tuesday following court orders.
The AAP has already announced its candidates for all 13 seats that include Yogesh Dedha from ward number 214 (Khichripur), Ghanshyam Gaur from ward 238 ( Jhilmil), Sachin Singhal from ward 67 (Wazirpur), Arun Singh Chauhan from ward 44 (Kamaruddin Nagar), Ramesh from ward 136 (Matiala), Anil Malik from ward 168 (Nanakpura), Pawan Tanwar from ward 176 (Bhati Mines) and Ashok Saini from ward 124 (Vikas Nagar)
Sunita Tokas from Munirka ward number 166 (RK Puram), Mohammed Sadiq from Ballimaran ward number 86 (Ballimaran), Anvika Mittal from Shalimar Bagh (North) ward number 55 (Shalimar Bagh), Abhishek Bidhuri from Tekhand ward number 199 (Tugalakabad) and Ajay Kumar from Nawada ward number 126 (Uttam Nagar).