Aspirants make beeline for party offices as polls near

Over a hundred Assembly poll ticket seekers have picked up forms from the Delhi Congress in the first two days of start of the process. Offices of the Delhi BJP and the AAP are also getting a steady flow of inquiry from wannabe legislators.

“There is a huge response from ticket seekers,” said Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh.
The process is likely to pick up further, he said, hinting at the finalisation of the final line up after several rounds of screenings.

Talking about the aspiring MLAs’ response, a leader at the Delhi Congress said: “Such is the response that we even met a woman who came to seek the Congress candidate form. When we asked her to tell us about her constituency, she could not.” 

Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay confirmed there has been no deadline fixed for starting the process of identifying the “most suitable” candidates.

“As we are waiting for the election dates to be announced, there is no formal start of the process,” he said.

While Upadhyay was interacting with his personal staff, an elderly man walked into his room in his office at the Delhi unit office.

“I need your attention,” said the elderly man, pushing an application towards Upadhyay.
The paper only had “warm wishes” typed on it.

A curious Upadhyay asked the elderly about what he wanted to say, prompting a request in a hushed tone: “Ticket. Please take care of my case.”

The Delhi BJP chief told the over 70-year-old MLA ticket applicant to give his biodata. “Don’t take the trouble of coming yourself, you can also get it sent through someone,” said Upadhyay.
   
Party sources said visitor’s like the elderly man was not alone but many of the district-level leaders have been coming to meet Upadhyay, often with his supporters, throughout the afternoon.

“Some leaders sneak into his room on some pretext or the other start sharing their ideas on various issues,” said a party leader, adding that a party ticket is all that they are aiming for.

Less demand
In the Aam Aadmi Party, the individual inquiries from ticket seekers are a little less as compared to other parties, partially due to the leaders’ announcement to give priority to those who contested the 2013 Assembly.

Some senior leaders also hinted that senior leaders will nominate a bulk of the nominees selected from among active workers.

Numerous queries
Senior AAP functionaries said they have been receiving many queries from ticket seekers this election season.

“We have not invited applications for potential candidates to apply for party’s ticket. But despite that we receive many queries,” a senior AAP leader said.

The party’s new office at East Patel Nagar in central Delhi is also seeing a steady flow of people seeking information about selection process.

The AAP leaders claimed that it is relying more on its bench strength rather than roping in people from outside the party’s fold.
DH News Service