BJP to back Independent candidates in five wards

Nominations of its own picks were scrapped by poll body

April 12, 2017 12:34 am | Updated 12:34 am IST - New Delhi

The BJP on Tuesday announced it would be supporting Independent candidates in five wards after the nominations of its candidates were cancelled by the State Election Commission (SEC).

According to the party, it would support Amrita Rashmi from Bapraula, Lata Soni from Lado Sarai, Gulfam from Abu Fazal Enclave, Twinkle Kalia from Kishan Ganj and Rahul Singh from Vinod Nagar.

The party did not give tickets for the municipal polls based on financial status, the BJP said, after one of its “poor” candidates from a slum turned out to be an owner of property worth lakhs.

Financial status

BJP’s Delhi in-charge Shyam Jaju said the party chose Sunita Kaushik as its Inderpuri candidate due to her active role in highlighting the issues plaguing the JJ clusters and unauthorised colonies.

“Financial status was not the benchmark. In fact, her financial condition should not be a matter of debate. She is active on issues pertaining to the slum clusters,” he said.

The party had initially attempted to reach out to the people residing at the JJ clusters by projecting Ms. Kaushik as someone who was “one of them” and understands their “pain”.

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari was instrumental in naming her as a candidate during the party’s slum outreach campaign.

Meanwhile, around 40 activists of the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress joined the BJP at the party’s Delhi unit headquarters on Tuesday.

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