Delhi Assembly Polls: Ramesh Bidhuri, Parevesh Verma and Kailash Gahlot have been fielded in the first list.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday released its first list of 29 candidates for the Delhi Assembly polls scheduled in February.
Among the names featured in the first list, former west Delhi MP Parvesh Verma will be taking on AAP chief and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi constituency. Former south Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri is set to go up against CM Atishi from Kalkaji, while former AAP Minister Kailash Gahlot has been fielded from Bijwasan instead of his turf Najafgarh.
The party has also dropped Gandhi Nagar MLA Anil Bajpayee and given a ticket to former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely.
Here’s the full first list of BJP’s candidates
Initially, the first list of BJP’s candidates for the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections was anticipated late December after Prime Minister Narendra Modi was expected to chair a Central Election Committee meeting. According to BJP sources, a reason for this delay in announcing candidates was “lack of options” on certain seats.
Further, a change in guard in the state unit with a working president from an SC, ST or OBC community was also considered likely ahead of the final verdict on picks for the polls from its national leadership. It was speculated that the BJP’s Delhi unit may be handed over to “a senior leader from a significant community” in the wake of the furore over Dr BR Ambedkar during the recently concluded Winter Session of the Parliament.
Meanwhile, the AAP has announced picks for all the 70 Assembly constituencies in Delhi. The Congress has named candidates for 21 seats with more expected soon.
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