Delhi election: Eye on Bihar polls, BJP leaves two seats for allies

The BJP is intensifying its efforts to end the AAP's decade-long rule in Delhi.

In its fourth list of nine candidates for the upcoming Delhi election, the BJP left two seats for the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) and the Chirag Pawan-led LJP (RV).

A BJP insider told Times of India that its state unit wasn’t keen on giving the seats to its allies but had to do so eying Bihar assembly polls.

This latest announcement brings the BJP's list to 68 candidates for the 70-member assembly elections. While the JD(U) has announced Shailendra Kumar as its candidate from Burari, the LJP (RV) is likely to field a candidate from Deoli. Shailendra Kumar is pitted against AAP’s Sanjeev Jha and Congress’s Mangesh Tyagi.

The Burari seat, contested by the JD(U) in 2020, saw a significant defeat when AAP’s Sanjeev Jha won by a margin of 88,000 votes.

“Principally, we all agreed to defeat the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) together. Now that the seat-sharing deal has been reached, we are hitting the ground with full strength,” JD(U) spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Prasad told Indian Express.

The JD(U) and LJP (RV) will reportedly contest the election on their respective symbols of “arrow” and “helicopter”.

Asked if the JD(U) felt slighted given that it had contested two seats in the 2020 Delhi Assembly polls, Prasad said, “It is not important how many seats we contest. What is important is that we fight together and show a model of better governance to the people of Delhi.”

The BJP has nominated Poonam Sharma, currently serving as a councillor from the Ashok Vihar ward to contest from the Wazirpur assembly constituency against Congress's Ragini Nayak and AAP's Rajesh Gupta. Candidates have until January 17 to file their nominations, which will be scrutinised on January 18. The deadline for withdrawal of candidature is January 20.

Other key candidates announced include Sanjay Goyal for Shahdara, who will face former BJP member Jitender Singh Shunty, now with the AAP. Additional names include Poonam Sharma (Wazirpur), Ravinder Kumar Indraj (Bawana), Ravikant Ujjain (Trilokpuri-SC), and Praveen Nimesh (Gokalpur-SC).

The BJP is intensifying its efforts to end the AAP's decade-long rule in Delhi. Elections are set for February 5, with vote counting scheduled for February 8. The nine constituencies announced on Thursday are currently held by the AAP in the outgoing assembly, posing a significant challenge for the BJP as it seeks to reclaim ground.