NEW DELHI: A week after releasing the first list of candidates, the BJP has unveiled its much-awaited second list of 29 candidates for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.
The saffron party has fielded Kapil Mishra and Harish Khurana for the crucial elections in the national capital, from Karawal Nagar and Moti Nagar, respectively.
The party has also nominated Raj Karan Khatri from Narela, Surya Prakash Khatri from Timarpur, Gajendra Daral from Mundka, Bajrang Shukla from Kirari, Karan Singh Karma from Sultanpur Majra, Karnail Singh from Shakur Basti, and Tilak Ram Gupta from Trinagar.
Additionally, the BJP has given tickets to Manoj Kumar Jindal from Sadar Bazar, Satish Jain from Chandni Chowk, Deepti Indora from Matia Mahal, Urmila Kailash Gangwal from Madipur, Shyam Sharma from Hari Nagar, Shweta Saini from Tilak Nagar, among others.
To finalize the names of candidates for the remaining 41 of the 70 assembly seats, the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the BJP met on Friday evening. The names of 29 candidates were then released a day later.
Sources suggest that the CEC placed significant emphasis on selecting non-controversial candidates, with a strong focus on including women from OBC and other sections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP President JP Nadda were part of the CEC, which reviewed recommendations from the Delhi BJP Core Committee. This committee had met earlier to prepare a tentative list of candidates.
The list of candidates was scrutinized from various angles, including gender, winnability, organizational contributions, and social and caste factors, in line with the criteria set by an internal survey.
The first list of 29 candidates was issued on January 4 and included Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma as the candidate for New Delhi constituency, where he will face AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal, and former MP Ramesh Bidhuri from Kalkaji, where Chief Minister Atishi is contesting.
