JDU, initially wanting to contest 10-12 seats, has apparently scaled back its demand, now expressing willingness to contest on five seats.
New Delhi: As the Delhi Assembly elections draw near, the political climate in the national capital has become charged. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched high-profile infrastructure projects on Friday, focusing on housing and education, and is set to address a rally on Sunday in Rohini, Delhi.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has already announced all 70 of its candidates for the Delhi Assembly, while Congress has confirmed its candidates for 48 seats and is likely to release the final list in the coming days.
The BJP was the last to announce its candidate list, revealing the first 29 names on Saturday.
The RSS and the Delhi BJP unit held several high-profile meetings over the past two weeks. Sources have confirmed to The Sunday Guardian that the final list of the candidates has been drafted, and is awaiting approval from the Central Election Committee (CEC), which is expected to meet in the coming days.
One of the key reasons for the delay in the BJP’s announcement is due to the seat sharing talks with its NDA partners, Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), Jayant Chaudhary’s RLD and Chirag Paswan’s LJP.
JD(U), initially wanting to contest 10-12 seats, has reportedly scaled back its demand, now expressing willingness to contest on five seats. This shift suggests a lack of clarity from the BJP’s central leadership, creating uncertainty over JD(U)’s participation in the Delhi contest.
A party insider told The Sunday Guardian, “We’ve already reduced our demands. We initialy wanted to contest 10-12 seats, especially in areas with a sizeable population of Biharis and Purvanchalis. But we haven’t received any confirmation from our alliance partner, BJP. We contested on two seats in the 2020 Assembly elections, but we want to contest more seats, as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s face is likely to benefit the alliance.”
Smaller NDA allies like Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), are also awaiting confirmation on the number of seats they will be allocated.
Both parties have expressed interest in contesting 2-3 seats each, but the BJP has yet to finalise the seat-sharing arrangement, which continues to complicate alliance dynamics.
While Modi’s campaign efforts have energised the Delhi BJP unit, disputes over seat-sharing are threaten to expose cracks within the seemingly unified NDA.