BJP to name candidates after Diwali festivities

Ticket hopefuls in the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party who were looking for good news this Diwali will now have to wait till after the festivities are over, with the party deciding to announce the list of candidates next week.

While an election committee meeting was held at Delhi poll in-charge Nitin Gadkari’s house till late on Thursday, Delhi unit chief Vijay Goel said in a statement that the announcement of party candidates have been postponed till after the festival.

Sources said three candidates were being shortlisted for each seat, including the seats with sitting BJP MLAs. The final list will be finalised next week.

The State Election Committee meeting continued even as BJP Election Campaign Committee chief Narendra Modi met senior leaders, including L.K. Advani and Sushma Swaraj, to discuss matters related to other States going to the polls.

The party will promote candidates with a clean image, look at the work carried out at the grassroots level and assess the winnability quotient of every candidate, said Mr. Goel.

“Sitting MLAs with a good track record will be repeated. The party will give representation to all sections of society in ticket distribution,” he added.

Reiterating that the BJP is “committed to the well-being of the people” and providing corruption-free development in Delhi, Mr. Goel said: “The BJP’s commitment to clean and efficient governance will be reflected in the final list of the candidates for the Assembly polls.”

The BJP recently launched its ‘Ghar Ghar BJP’ mass contact programme in which party workers have been distributing publicity material that shares its vision and development. “The BJP will provide corruption-free development in Delhi when it forms the government after the Assembly polls,” said Mr. Goel. “The party is confident of winning two-thirds majority in Delhi,” he added.

The party plans to fight the elections on key issues such as “rising prices, high water and power tariffs, lack of women’s safety and neglect of education, health, sanitation and transport”.