JOIN USAlmost three days after the opening of the filing of nominations, no candidate has filed his or her papers in either of the three Assembly seats for which by-polls are scheduled on November 25.
The last date of filing nominations is November 5. The lack of interest by independent candidates and other smaller parties in the by-polls may result in a direct clash between the three big players – the AAP, the BJP and the Congress.
“Our offices for accepting nominations and we are maintaining a daily record of the developments,” said a Delhi election official.
There are indications that the AAP and the Congress may not repeat their candidates who lost on the Krishna Nagar, Mehrauli and Tughlakabad Assembly seats last year.
The three seats fell vacant when BJP’s legislators Harsh Vardhan (Krishna Nagar), Ramesh Bidhuri (Tughlakabad) and Pervesh Verma (Mehrauli) were elected to Lok Sabha.
Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay has refused to bare the party’s game plan or the names of the candidates for the by-poll. “The names will be known soon,” he said.
BJP sources said Upadhyay may himself contest the by-poll from Mehrauli.
The AAP appears set to field Sahi Ram from Tughlakabad. The former Bahujan Samaj Party leader, who lost to Bidhuri (34,009 votes) by 5,946 votes, joined the AAP a couple of months back.
The AAP candidate Manoj Kumar Ray polled 12,465 votes, while Congress nominee Om Prakash got 9,781 votes. Both of them are unlikely to be repeated by their parties in the by-polls, said sources.
In Krishna Nagar, V K Monga of the Congress who polled 26,072 votes is said to be getting close to his old party – the BJP. Sources said if Monga returns to the saffron fold, he may get the BJP ticket from Harsh Vardhan’s stronghold. The Congress seems close to approving former Delhi minister A K Walia’s candidature from the Krishna Nagar seat.
Congress sources said Shastri seemed to be a strong contender for getting re-nomination in the by-poll.