BJP workers during the 'Jhuggi Pradhan Sammelan'
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The BJP on Thursday named nine more candidates for the elections to the 70-member Delhi assembly, fielding Shikha Rai and Anil Vashishth against from Greater Kailash and Babarpur, respectively.
While Rai is pitted against Delhi minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj, Vashishth will battle it out against Gopal Rai, also a minister in the AAP government.
With its latest and the fourth list, the BJP has named 68 candidates.
Soon after the BJP announced the nine names, its ally JD(U) declared Shailendra Kumar as its candidate from the Burari constituency. In the 2020 polls, the JD(U) contested two seats -- Burari and Sangam Vihar -- in alliance with the BJP.
BJP sources said the other seat -- Deoli (reserved) -- where the BJP has not announced a candidate may likely go to NDA ally Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).
The party was given the Seemapuri seat in the previous Assembly poll.
In the 2020 polls, Shikha Rai lost to Bharadwaj from GK by over 16,000 votes. From Burari, JD(U) candidate Kumar was defeated by AAP's Sanjeev Jha by a whopping margin of 88,000 votes.
The BJP sources claimed that the party workers in Burari are "deeply resenting" the move to give the seat to JD(U), and some are likely to contest as rebels.
The nine seats the BJP declared on Thursday are with the Aam Aadmi Party in the outgoing assembly.
The top BJP leadership devoted much time in finding a strong candidate against Bharadwaj in Greater Kailash. Some names, including former Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi, were considered. But according to party leaders Lekhi wanted to contest from Delhi Cantt, party leaders said.
Lekhi's name did not eventually figure in any list as the BJP fielded three-time MLA Karan Singh Tanwar's son Bhuvan Tanwar from Delhi Cantt.
The BJP fielded its Purvanchali leader Chandan Kumar Chaudhary from Sangam Vihar. Last time, the JD(U) lost the seat to AAP by more than 42,000 votes.
The BJP fielded Sanjay Goyal from Shahdara seat against Jitender Singh Shunty, who recently quit the party to join the AAP.
Poonam Sharma from Wazirpur, Ravinder Kumar Indraj from Bawana, Ravikant Ujjain from Trilokpuri (SC) and Praveen Nimesh from Gokalpur (SC) were other candidates named in the BJP's fourth list.
The BJP is pulling out all the stops to end the Aam Aadmi Party's 10-year-long reign in the national capital in the elections scheduled for February 5. The counting of votes is due on February 8.