NEW DELHI: BJP announced its candidates for the remaining 18 MCD seats late on Sunday evening and gave them a go-ahead to file the nomination papers on Monday. While the party had declared candidates on 232 seats on Saturday, senior BJP functionaries said consensus could not be built on names for the remaining wards. “Several small meetings of the senior leadership took place on Sunday to decide on the candidates, which continued till late evening,” said a party functionary. The 18 seats include Rani Bagh, Kohat Enclave, Tri Nagar, Shakur Pur, Quraish Nagar, Paharganj, Raghubir Nagar, Rajnagar (in Bijwasan), Daryaganj, Sangam Vihar C, Sangam Vihar B, Sriniwaspuri, Meethapur, Jaitpur, Mayur Vihar Phase-I, Maujpur, Braham Puri and Yamuna Vihar. The candidates include Rajpal Singh from Sriniwaspuri, who was elected as a councillor from the same seat in 2017 and also served as zonal chairman in SDMC and Pramod Gupta, a councillor and the zonal chairman of EDMC. The party had withheld the election symbol of 16 candidates, whose nomination on Saturday met with dissent and there were demands from party functionaries to review the names. However, it was not clear if the senior leadership cleared their names or replaced any of them. Sources said there were some negative reports against these candidates, forcing the leadership to hold more consultations before giving them a final go-ahead. “In case of some candidates, the local office-bearers have complained of ignoring the name of committed and popular workers and giving tickets to close aides of some senior leaders. In some other cases, the shortlisted candidates were not even considered. On the directions of the central leadership, the letters of party symbol to these 16 candidates have been withheld,” said a Delhi BJP functionary. Sources said there was particular objection to the candidature of a woman candidate from northeast Delhi, whose family was reportedly involved in criminal activities. “Some MPs spoke to the national president and the home minister and discussed the discontent brewing in some wards and among a section of workers. The national president had called a meeting with Delhi MPs and MLAs to find a solution,” said a party leader.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/delhi-mcd-polls-bjp-names-candidates-for-remaining-18-seats/articleshow/95494792.cms
