With the Nationalist Congress Party patriarch Sharad Pawar insistent that only candidates with clean track record would be given tickets, the party on Saturday declared names of only 13 candidates for the Assembly elections.
The members signed their nomination papers.
According to Nationalist Congress Party leader Kanwar Pratap Singh, though the party had decided to field candidates in all 70 seats, only 13 candidates were selected.
“NCP president Sharad Pawar was insistent that only candidates with incorruptible track record should be given tickets. Anyone with criminal antecedence was not to be included in the list. I checked with all the police stations in Delhi to see whether any candidate had committed a crime. This is our final list,” said Mr. Singh.
Noting that corruption is a major issue affecting the common man, the Jat leader from Gur Mandi (Model Town) said the party would raise scandals like the Commonwealth Games in the polls. “We will highlight that the Delhi Government’s track record on corruption has been exceptionally poor.”
Mr. Singh wanted professionals like doctors, lawyers and educationists, who have an incorruptible track record, to get tickets.
The party’s only heavyweight candidate is J. P. Lohia, a doctor by profession, who will be contesting from the Rajouri Garden constituency.
“He comes from a political family. We have received good feedback from the constituency,” said Mr. Singh.
Other candidates are Prem Dutt Sharma (Mehrauli), Nikunj Sharma (Shahdara), Sunil Atree (Malviya Nagar), Abinav Sanjay Prajapati (Kiradi), Kusum Tandon (Shakur Basti, Anil Kumar (Seemapuri), Kavita (Bawana), Miya Jalauddin (Matia Mahal), Sarvendra Singh Pal (Patparganj), Daya Ram Saini (Sadar), Mohammad Ahmed Saifi (Ghonda) and Kari Ayub Hasan (Karawal Nagar).
Sunil Atree, who joined the NCP this year after serving the Congress for two decades, said: “We could not field as many candidates as we would have wanted because police verification is an essential prerequisite for us.”
