BJP 'Confident' Of Giving Tough Fight To AAP In Delhi Election, First Candidate List Expected Next Week: Report

While the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has declared 31 candidates for the 70-seat Delhi assembly election and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has none, the latter is confident of giving a tough fight on over 40 seats.

“Given the current scenario where the AAP, BJP and Congress are in a three-corner fight, the (internal) surveys predict a direct contest between the AAP and BJP on around 40 seats," a BJP leader said.

"There are only a handful of seats such as New Delhi, Okhla, Greater Kailash and Malviya Nagar, among others, where the AAP is considered comfortably ahead for the time being," the leader added.

In the 2020 assembly election, the AAP won 62 seats and BJP won eight seats. In the 2015 assembly election, the AAP won 67 seats and the BJP three. The Congress could not win a single seat in both these elections.

The BJP core committee, which includes national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva, Delhi BJP general secretary (organisation) Pavan Rana, Delhi incharge Baijayant Panda, and MPs Harsh Malhotra, Manoj Tiwari, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Yogender Chandoliya convened at the party’s state headquarters on Monday.

Other attendees included senior leaders Arvinder Singh Lovely, Dushyant Gautam, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta, former Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay, among others.

Party insiders have revealed that current discussions include considering Sachdeva as a potential candidate from either Patparganj, Krishna Nagar, or Kasturba Nagar.

Other names under consideration include former DCW chief Barkha Shukla Singh or Anil Sharma from R K Puram, Impreet Bakshi from Jangpura, and Satish Upadhyay from Malviya Nagar.

Former West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma from New Delhi, incumbent MLA Anil Bajpai from Gandhi Nagar, Arvinder Singh Lovely from Krishna Nagar, Manjinder Singh Sirsa from Rajouri Garden, and Ravinder Lohia from Delhi Cantt are also being discussed.

The disclosure of the list will occur only once the national leadership gives their final approval this week. A source indicated that the State Election Committee is expected to convene on either Tuesday or Wednesday.

After this, a Central Election Committee meeting overseen by the Prime Minister, Home Minister, and Defence Minister, around 14 or 15 December will take place. The source further revealed that the first list is likely to be declared on the same day.