Delhi Assembly Elections 2025 | BJP releases first list of candidates

BJP leader Parvesh Verma will be contesting against AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi constituency.

New Delhi: The BJP on Saturday announced its first list of 29 candidates for Delhi Assembly elections, fielding former MPs Parvesh Verma against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Ramesh Bidhuri against Chief Minister Atishi, in addition to nominating a handful of prominent turncoats from Congress and AAP.

Tarvinder Singh Marwah, a senior Congress leader who joined the BJP in 2022, will take on another AAP top leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

The list includes candidates for seven of its eight sitting seats after dropping one MLA to accommodate former Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely who joined the saffron party during Lok Sabha elections and finding a replacement for Ramvir Singh Bidhuri who resigned after being elected to Lok Sabha. Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta will re-contest from Rohini.

The contest in three VIP constituencies — New Delhi, Kalkaji and Jangpura — will be high profile as both BJP and Congress have fielded its senior and strong candidates against AAP heavyweights.

Verma and Ramesh Bidhuri were denied tickets for Lok Sabha elections after holding West Delhi and South Delhi seats for ten years. Verma will be taking on Kejriwal and Congress' Sandeep Dikshit in New Delhi while Bidhuri will have a face-off with Atishi and Congress' Alka Lamba.

In Jangpura where Sisodia is seeking a mandate after shifting from Patparganj, the AAP leader will face a challenge from Marwah and Congress Farhad Suri, with both having close connection with the constituency.

Incidentally, the BJP has chosen three outspoken candidates for these high-profile seats.

Verma has been in news recently for allegations that he distributed money for votes in New Delhi besides for his "hate speeches" during and after 2020 Assembly elections, including calling Shaheen Bagh protesters "rapists and killers" and Kejriwal a "terrorist". He also called for a "total boycott" of Muslims in 2022.

Bidhuri was in the news when he showered communal slurs at Lok Sabha MP Danish Ali when he was participating in a debate in 2023. Marwah had threatened that top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi would face the fate of his grandmother Indira Gandhi.

The BJP has also fielded its councillor Ravinder Singh Negi, who was in the news for telling Muslim vendors to display their names and distributing saffron flags to shopkeepers identifying themselves as Hindus, from Patparganj. In 2020 polls, he had brought down Sisodia’s majority from 28,761 (2015) to 3,207 (2020).

Former AAP Minister Kailash Gahlot has been fielded from Bijwasan though he has been contesting from Najafgarh till now. Another former AAP Minister Raaj Kumar Anand will fight from Patel Nagar while former AAP MLA Kartar Singh Tanwar has been fielded from Chattarpur, which he won last time.

Former Congress Minister Rajkumar Chouhan, who joined BJP along with Lovely, has been fielded from Mangolpuri, which he had been representing before AAP captured it in 2013.

The party has also fielded its senior leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam from Karol Bagh while Manjinder Singh Sirsa will contest from Rajouri Garden and former Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay from Malviya Nagar. Incumbent Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva will not be fighting the polls, as he will be coordinating the campaign.

While AAP has announced candidates for all seats, finding 24 new faces for its sitting seats, Congress has so far announced 48 of 70 candidates. BJP will soon be announcing candidates for the remaining 41 seats soon, a senior leader said.

Responding ti the BJP list, AAP Rajya Sabha floor leader Sanjay Singh said the saffron party has given tickets to those caught distributing cash to voters and abusing others in Parliament while Atishi alleged that their opponent was fielding their own rejects.

Atishi said Bidhuri had not been re-nominated by his party for the same seat which he contested earlier and this decision clearly suggests that even his own party does not have faith in his track record. "If the BJP itself cannot trust his work, how can the people of Kalkaji be expected to trust him?” she asked.