The Delhi-unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party will hold an election committee meeting on Saturday to shortlist candidates for the November 25 by-elections to three Assembly constituencies.
“The election committee will meet at 10 a.m. on Saturday to discuss the probable list of candidates who will fight elections,” said Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay. Further, the committee will comprise persons from the State unit, including former Delhi BJP presidents and will not see national leaders participate, said party sources.
The probable list that is currently doing the rounds includes Mr. Upadhyay’s name who is likely to contest from Mehrauli as he is the sitting councillor from Malviya Nagar. Former South Delhi mayor Sarita Chudhary is also a probable for this seat.
At Tughlakabad, party sources said, south district vice-president Vikaram Bidhuri, who is also the nephew of South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri, is likely to be named the party candidate.
However, the party seems undecided on a candidate for Krishna Nagar, from where Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan was elected legislator five consecutive times. He is likely to be the one to recommend a candidate for this constituency.
With three of the sitting BJP legislators — Parvesh Verma, Harsh Vardhan and Ramesh Bidhuri — elected to the Lok Sabha in May, the three constituencies, two in South Delhi and one in East Delhi, fell vacant. On Friday, Mr. Upadhyay said he chaired three meetings specific to each of the three constituencies — Tughlakabad, Mehrauli and Krishna Nagar — in which by-elections are due late November.
“The three meetings were constituency specific and dealt with booth management, election strategy, how to reach voters, how to engage with voters through social media and so on,” said Mr. Upadhyay.
