The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday sounded the bugle for the Delhi Assembly elections by releasing the first list of 58 candidates in the fray. The party has left four seats for its long-time ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) while the remaining eight seats will be decided by BJP president Rajnath Singh.
The party has projected former Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta as its candidate from the prestigious New Delhi Assembly seat where he will have the Herculean task of defeating Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. The BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Dr Harsh Vardhan will contest for the fourth time from Krishna Nagar Assembly segment in East Delhi.
The BJP national secretary and former Mayor Arti Mehra got the party ticket from Malviya Nagar while Pravesh Verma, the son of former Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma, has been fielded from Jat-dominated Mehrauli Assembly constituency.
Keeping the winnability factor in mind, the BJP also decided to repeat 21 of its sitting MlAs while sons of two legislators have been allowed to contest polls on the party symbol from Greater Kailash and Tilak Nagar Assembly Constituencies.
While Ajay Malhotra will succeed his father Vijay Kumar Malhotra from Greater Kailash, BJP MlA from Tilak Nagar, OP Babbar has vacated his seat for his son Rajeev Babbar.
The other sitting MlAs that the BJP high command has reposed faith in include Shri Krishna Tyagi from Burari, Kulwant Rana from Rithala, Manoj Shokeen from Mundka, Anil Jha from Kirari, Jai Bhagwan from Rohini, Ravinder Bansal from Shalimar Bagh, Shyam lal Garg from Shakur Basti, SP Ratawal from Karol Bagh, Subhash Sachdeva from Moti Nagar, Jagdish Mukhi from Janakpuri, Praduman Rajput from Dwarka, Sat Prakash Rana from Bijwasan, Dharam Dev Solanki from Palam, Karan Singh Tanwar from Delhi Cantt, Dr SCl Gupta from Sangam Vihar, Ramesh Bidhuri from Tughlakabad, SS Chauhan from Gonda, Naresh Gaur from Babarpur and Mohan Singh Bisht from Karawal Nagar.
The four seats that have gone to the kitty of SAD include Kalkaji, Hari Nagar, Shahdara and Rajouri Garden. Interestingly, the BJP had to sacrifice its Hari Nagar seat represented by HS Balli for the Akali Dal.
Apart from the sitting MlAs, the BJP has also fielded six sitting councillors. Announcing its much-awaited list of candidates after a day-long marathon meeting, BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar said the BJP has given representation to seven Scheduled Caste candidates and four women candidates while the sole Muslim candidate Mohammad Nizamuddin has been given the party ticket from Matia Mahal Assembly segment.
Nizamuddin, a practicing lawyer, will be contesting against four-time MlA Shoaib Iqbal. Kumar said besides Dalit candidates in the reserved constituencies, the party has fielded an SC candidate Moti lal Sodhi from the General Assembly seat of Ballimaran.
The BJP has also relied on its sitting councillors as five of them have found place in the first list of candidates. Prominent among them are leader of House in North Delhi Corporation, Mahendra Nagpal from Wazirpur assembly seat and Chairman of Standing Committee in South Delhi Corporation, Rajesh Gehlot from Matiala Assembly segment.
The other corporators include former Deputy Mayor Anil Sharma from RK Puram, Poornima Vidyarthi from Patel Nagar, Susheela Bagadi and from Sultanpur Mazra. The seats that remain undecided by the BJP include Mustafabad, Okhla, Chhattarpur, Timarpur, Adarsh Nagar, Bawana, Nangloi Jat and Seemapuri. The filing of nominations for the December 4 polls will begin on November 9.