irants, meanwhile, raise the pitch against ‘outsiders’ getting poll tickets

The BJP election committee met for six hours on Friday but could not zero in on 70 candidates for the Assembly polls on November 29. The Delhi unit of the party has till date managed to select 33 names, and all these names will be screened and finalised by the party headquarters.

City BJP leaders were scheduled to present the 33 names at the party’s Ashoka Road headquarters at 6 pm but the top brass was busy discussing the list for Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir till late evening. “Party president Rajnath Singh told us to complete our list tomorrow and present the final report,” Delhi BJP president Dr Harsh Vardhan said.

The election committee will, thus, sit down again on Saturday at 10 am.

The 33 candidates ‘finalised’ by the city unit includes names of 19 sitting MLAs. The other 14 seats ‘decided’ are: Timarpur, Adarsh Nagar, Badli, Bawana, Mundka, Sultanpur, Mangolpuri, Shakur Basti, Tri Nagar, Chandni Chowk, Model Town, Madipur, Patel Nagar and Rajouri Garden. Of these, Adarsh Nagar and Rajouri Garden have been given to allies Shiromani Akali Dal.     

But even as Delhi BJP leaders were brainstorming, there were signs of rebellion brewing outside. Several frustrated ticket-seekers began a protest outside the party office against some of the ‘outsider candidates’ — those who do not reside in the constituency from where their names have been pitched. Some of the protestors even manhandled Delhi BJP chief Harsh Vardhan while he was entering the party office for the election committee meeting.

... contd.