BJP, Congress make their presence felt as nomination window closes

NEW DELHI: The last day of filing nominations for the May 12 Lok Sabha polls in Delhi saw the biggest rush at the offices of the returning officers on Tuesday. With supporters swarming the arterial roads in massive roadshows, all Congress candidates and some of BJP filed their nominations, stealing the limelight from the large number of smaller party nominees and independent candidates who also submitted their papers on the day.
Tuesday saw high-profile candidates filing their nominations, among them three-time Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit in the North East Delhi constituency where she will take on sitting BJP MP Manoj Tiwari and AAP’s Dilip Pandey. Interestingly, while Tiwari is Delhi BJP chief and Dikshit the Delhi Congress president, Pandey is former Delhi convener of AAP.
Accompanied by trusted aides and former MLAs of assembly segments falling in the constituency, Dikshit, 81, started her roadshow from Sonia Vihar. A huge crowd gathered outside the returning officer’s office in Nand Nagri to catch a glimpse of the veteran leader and to click selfies with her.
After filing the papers, Dikshit said she was sentimental about this seat: she had contested her first election in the capital from East Delhi in 1998 before the some areas were reconstituted into the North East Delhi seat in 2008. “It is good to come back to this seat,” Dikshit said.
The neighbouring East Delhi constituency saw Gautam Gambhir of BJP and Arvinder Singh Lovely, the popular Sikh face of Congress, filing their papers. An eager crowd gathered on roads to watch the former cricketer, who began his poll campaign with a pooja at the local councillor’s house in Jagriti Enclave. His procession covered areas likes Preet Vihar and Laxmi Nagar.
Gambhir, 37, has replaced Maheish Girri as BJP’s candidate and will take on Lovely and Atishi of AAP. His father, Deepak Gambhir, a garments businessman in Gandhi Nagar, said, “I am confident my son will do well after being elected as MP. We have been running this business in east Delhi for 45 years and he is aware about the issues and requirements of this region.”
Lovely, in turn, told TOI that people would be making a mistake if they voted for BJP again. “Maheish Girri was neither accessible nor available here. He sat silent even when hundreds of factories were sealed in Vishwas Nagar,” said the Congress candidate. “BJP has done little to revive the Trans Yamuna Area Redevelopment Board or the mono rail project to connect Pushta Road with Mayur Vihar or other development work.”
Another high-profile electoral battle will take place in New Delhi constituency where former Union minister Ajay Maken of Congress and sitting BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi submitted their papers on Tuesday. The former claimed he decided against a roadshow so as to not inconvenience commuters or cause a traffic jam. “I did not want to disturb the people,” Maken said while vowing to win the contest.
Maken asked Congress workers to make voters aware of the party’s NYAY scheme, in which Rs 72,000 will be given annually to 20% of India’s poorest families. Also mindful that New Delhi electorate has a sizable number of government employees, Maken told the locals that his party manifesto promised to fill up 24 lakh government vacancies within a year.
Lekhi set out in a procession after a havan at the Delhi BJP officer before filing her nomination papers at the returning officer’s office.
In South Delhi, BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri went on a 4-km parade from Chhatarpur to the district magistrate’s office on Mehrauli-Badarpur road. As truck-top DJs playing personalised Bidhuri songs, the incumbent MP appealed to voters to elect Narendra Modi and made several references to the “chowkidar who stays awake guarding the nation”.
Bidhuri dismissed his opponents, boxer Vijender Singh of Congress and AAP’s Raghav Chadha, as “non-politicians” with no experience in delivering promises. The celebrity boxer arrived barely 25 minutes before the deadline for filing nomination in an open jeep with a few hundred Congress supporters. Later, Singh said that getting the ticket, completing the formalities and finishing the paperwork in less than a day was like fighting a boxing bout. “This is just the beginning of my political life and I am entering this new phase to help people,” Singh said.
He added, “Now is the time for Nyay. This is my goal: people must get good housing, good food and high standard of living. Being a sportsperson, I am also keen on developing sports infrastructure so budding athletes can flourish.”
In Chandni Chowk, hundreds turned up to support Congress nominee J P Agarwal when he arrived to file his nomination. Adorned in Congress scarves, Nehru caps and flags with pictures of Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, they waited keenly for Agarwal’s motorcade to arrive at the SDM’s office. Bollywood music, and even a song of Bollywood actor and recent BJP inductee Sunny Deol from the movie Border, played loudly. Agarwal told TOI, “Congress will win all seven seats. Despite not forming an alliance with AAP, we will still be on top.”
Former Congress MP from West Delhi Mahabal Mishra also came with supporters, who claimed he had done good work in the past and would be best placed to bring change in the area. Mishra is primarily targeting the Poorvanchali vote in the constituency.