The Bahujan Samaj Party announced candidates for four of the seven Lok Sabha seats in the Capital, for the upcoming general elections, on Tuesday.

While Kanwar Singh Tanwar, general secretary of the party’s Delhi unit, will be fighting from the South Delhi constituency, the party has chosen to field Muslim candidates from Chandni Chowk, East Delhi and Northeast Delhi. Haji Mustaqeem, Asif Khan and Haji Dilshad will be fighting from the Chandni Chowk, East Delhi and Northeast Delhi constituencies respectively.

Tanwar contested Assembly elections from the Chhatarpur constituency and the senior leader had unofficially cleared his name last month itself. Haji Dilshad had contested from the Mustafabad constituency and lost the seat by a close margin.

Asif Khan, a doctor at Batra Hospital, is said to be close to senior party leader Nasimuddin Siddiqui, who is overseeing poll preparations in Delhi. Khan and Haji Mustaqeem will be contesting for the first time.

As reported by Newsline earlier, the party has decided to focus on the Muslim vote in the Capital, after the “below par performance” in the Assembly polls held in November. Leaders from the party say the party could have won at least 13 seats in the Assembly polls had Muslim voters been wooed by the party.

After the backlash from contestants over “lack of support” from the party during the Assembly polls in Delhi, the party had dismissed “non-performing” members, including the in-charge of the Delhi unit of the party.

Dhani Ram and C P Singh of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the party were made the joint ‘prabharis’ of the Delhi unit, replacing Gaya Chand Dinker last month, while Siddiqui has been looking after the preparation of the polls in Delhi.

... contd.