The total number of applications to contest the upcoming Delhi civic polls on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket have gone up by 240% since Saturday, claimed party insiders on Wednesday. They attributed the “staggering” increase to the party’s “recent feats at the national level”.
Sitting councillors
Besides the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand Assembly Election results, insiders from the State-level BJP leadership admitted that the party’s decision to drop all sitting councillors and their family members from the consolidated list for 272 seats under the three municipal corporations gave a significant fillip to the number of applications received.
“On March 11, the day of the [U.P. and Uttarakhand] election results, the tally of application forms [to contest the Delhi civic polls] was around 2,500. Over the past two days [Tuesday and Wednesday], the number has gone up to an estimated 8,500,” said a party source.
The source added that the increase in applications was “more than significant” over the past two days.
The increase in the number of hopefuls was also evident from the rush of visitors and the scramble for the photocopied application forms after an hour-long power cut on Wednesday. Besides sitting councillors and their relatives, visitors at the BJP State headquarters at Pandit Pant Marg on Wednesday afternoon included former office-bearers of the municipal corporations.
Also waiting for an application form was the son of a sitting councillor. The BJP had on Tuesday announced its decision to drop all sitting councillors and their families from the list of candidates for the upcoming civic polls. When asked about the reason for his visit, he remarked: “Whatever happens, we need to support a candidate from our ward.”
More forms expected
An insider added, “The total number of applications, which are free and need to be accompanied by a biodata, are expected to increase many times over in the coming days. Each application will be subjected to rigorous screening. Of the total applications received so far, only about 1,000 seem satisfactory at the moment.”
The source said cursory assessment of applications revealed that a many applicants were “connected” to sitting councillors or their kin “in some capacity”.
Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari had said the decision not to give tickets to family members of sitting councillors aims to “develop a new leadership” within the BJP which has held sway over the Delhi municipal corporations for a decade now.
