Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah has sought a detailed report on the fiasco in which nominations of six of its candidates for elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), were rejected. The polls are scheduled to be held on 23 April.
The BJP will effectively contest on 261 of the 272 seats, as the party has given five seats to its partner Shiromani Akali Dal. The wards from where nominations of BJP candidates have been rejected are Lado Sarai, Baprola, Trilokpuri, Abul Fazal Enclave, West Vinod Nagar and Kishanganj.
An insider in the Delhi BJP said it was due to “stupid mistakes” on part of the candidates and also the team which was assisting them for filing the nominations.
There were as many as 80 lawyers and more than 20 chartered accountants to help the candidates file the nominations. The source did not rule out “internal sabotage” as there was considerable resentment among the cadre over the party’s decision not to give tickets to any of the sitting councillors.
Sources said there was a delay of about five hours in releasing the list of candidates on Monday, the last day of nominations, which, according to them, could have led to the fiasco. Though the last list of 106 BJP candidates was finalised on 10.30 am on Monday, it was declared only around 3.30 pm.
The nomination of BJP candidate from Lado Sarai, Rinki Kumar, was cancelled for furnishing an “incorrect” caste certificate, while the nomination of Saroj Singh, the candidate for Trilokpuri, was rejected because the male/female column was not marked. In the case of Vinod Nagar candidate, Ravi Negi, the signature was missing.
Party president Amit Shah has sought a detailed report on the fiasco. BJP general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal met with senior party leaders and sought to know what led to this situation. State party president Manoj Tiwari and former president Vijender Gupta were present in the meeting.
Apart from the six candidates of the BJP, the State Election Commission has also rejected nominations of one candidate of the Congress and 24 of Swaraj India. In fact, around 40% of the total 4,500 nominations received for the 272 wards in the three municipal corporations have been rejected.
While 619 nominations have been rejected in the North, 763 nominations were rejected in the South and 337 in the East Delhi Municipal Corporations.
BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor has alleged that the state Election Commission returning officers were working “under pressure” from the Arvind Kejriwal government. “We admit that there were mistakes, but these were not ‘grave’, but ‘trivial’ ones. We feel that the people of Delhi will give a reply to this. We are confident that we will emerge victorious in at least 202 wards,” Kapoor said.
State Election Commissioner S.K. Srivastava could not be contacted for his comments on the allegations.
A Delhi BJP delegation led by Kuljeet Chahal, BJP general secretary, met Lt Governor Anil Baijal and complained against the rejections. BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi also met State Election Commissioner S.K. Srivastava, complaining against the rejections on “trivial” grounds.