NEW DELHI: Two principal opposition parties in the national capital - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress - have fielded new faces to challenge chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the prestigious New Delhi seat in the upcoming assembly polls.
Sunil Yadav, head of Delhi BJP's youth wing is the candidate of the saffron outfit while Romesh Sabharwal, former leader of National Student Union of India (NSUI), has been given a ticket by Congress to take on Kejriwal.
Sabharwal, who has held several posts in the student wing of Congress, was also the spokesperson of Indian Youth Congress (IYC). The party announced Sabharwal's candidature along with names for six more seats in the second list of its nominees released late Monday night.
Sabharwal was once supposed be to nominated from erstwhile Gole Market seat against then BJP leader and sitting MLA Kirti Azad in 1998. However, the party gave ticket to Sheila Diskhit, who went on to become the chief minister.
Gole market was later rechristened as New Delhi seat. Dikshit represented the seat till 2013 when Kejriwal, a political greenhorn, defeated the Congress veteran.
Besides Yadav's candidature, finalised late on Monday night, BJP also announced names for nine other seats including four assembly constituencies - Rajouri Garden, Hari Nagar, Shahdara, and Kalkaji, which it would leave for Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) under the alliance.
The move came hours after Akali leader and Rajouri Garden MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa announced that his party had decided not to contest elections in the national capital following the differences between both parties over exclusion of Muslims in Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga has been made BJP's candidate from Hari Nagar and Ramesh Khanna is from Rajouri Garden.
Bagga, founding member of Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena attacked former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan in his chamber at the Supreme Court in 2011 following his statement on referendum in Kashmir.
Bagga, a social influencer, is also spokesperson of Delhi BJP. Dharambir Singh has been given BJP ticket from Kalkaji while Sanjay Goyal will contest from Shahdara seat. The party has also given opportunity to its Purvanchali, termed used for natives of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, cell head Manish Singh to fight from Delhi Cantonment seat.
BJP, on Friday, released its first list of 57 candidates. Seemapuri seat, it has left for its ally Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and two seats--Burari and Sangam Vihar has been given to another alliance partner--Janata Dal (United).
With four seats going to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress will contest on 66 seats this time. Congress is yet to finalise names for five seats. Tuesday is the late of filing nomination of February 8 polls.
Earlier, on Saturday, the Congress released a list of 54 candidates , which included names of a former union minister, Delhi ministers, incumbent councillors and former Municipal Corporation members.