Delhi elections: 210 candidates fielded by 3 parties, 24 women

Both the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress have fielded more women candidates this time around, with the latter doubling its numbers.

While in 2015, only five of the 70 candidates were women, this time the Congress has fielded 10 — the highest among the main three.

The AAP, which had fielded six women candidates in 2015, has fielded nine this time.

One of them, Preeti Tomar from Tri Nagar, however, was brought in after the Delhi High Court set aside her husband Jitender Singh Tomar’s election for giving false declaration regarding his educational qualification in his nomination papers in 2015.

The BJP, which had fielded eight women candidates in 2015, is fielding five this year.

The Congress has not repeated any candidate from the last elections, when they had failed to win a single seat.

However, Alka Lamba, who had contested from the Chandni Chowk constituency as an AAP candidate and won, will fight on a Congress ticket from the same constituency.

Similarly, Krishna Tirath, who had contested unsuccessfully from Patel Nagar on a BJP ticket, will be fighting on a Congress ticket from the same constituency.

The AAP has some repetitions. Sarita Singh, who had won from Rohtas Nagar in 2015, will be contesting again. Similarly, Bhavna Gaur from Palam, Rakhi Birla from Mangolpuri, Bandana Kumari from Shalimar Bagh, and Parmila Tokas from R K Puram have been given another chance.

The BJP, too, has repeated a few names. Kiran Vaidya from Trilokpuri, who had lost to the AAP candidate in 2015, has been given another chance. Similarly, Rekha Gupta will be fighting again in Shalimar Bagh.

Pooja Bhari, a member of Congress’s manifesto committee, said the decision to have more women voters was a conscious one.

“DPCC chief Subhash Chopra had stressed that we would give more chances to the youth and women,” she said.

BJP women’s wing head Poonam Parashar Jha said the party had given tickets on the “winnability factor”. “We gave tickets on two more constituencies than the ones reserved for women,” she said.

“We always had a very progressive approach towards women and the party has always encouraged women to take leadership positions. While in government, we cleared the free bus ride policy for women, which is the single biggest tool of empowerment,” said Jasmine Shah, member of AAP’s manifesto committee.