New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday announced its candidates for the November 30 bypolls to the 12 wards of the Delhi Municipal Corporation, a day ahead of the conclusion of nomination submission.
The list was approved by Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj.
The polls are likely to see a keen contest between the AAP and the BJP. While it serves as an opportunity for AAP to regain lost ground in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the BJP will look to further strengthen its tally in the 250-member civic body.
The AAP’s Ram Swaroop Kanojia will contest from Dakshin Puri, Anuj Sharma from Sangam Vihar A, and Eeshna Gupta from Greater Kailash. Geeta Rawat has been named AAP candidate from Vinod Nagar, while Babita Ahlawat will contest from Shalimar Bagh B.
Seema Vikas Goel has been fielded from Ashok Vihar, Harsh Sharma from Chandni Chowk, and Muddasir Usman Qureshi from Chandni Mahal. Rajbala Sehrawat will contest from Dwarka B, Anil Lakra from Mundka, Rajan Arora from Naraina, and Keshav Chauhan from Dichao Kalan.
The last date of filing of nominations is November 10, and the scrutiny of papers will take place on November 12. The last date of withdrawal of nomination is November 15.
The BJP held nine of the 12 wards earlier, and AAP councillors represented the remaining three. Rekha Gupta represented the Shalimar Bagh-B ward, which she relinquished after winning the Assembly polls earlier this year, becoming Delhi’s chief minister.
BJP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat vacated the Dwarka-B ward after getting elected as MP from the West Delhi Lok Sabha seat. The remaining wards were vacated after the sitting councillors from the BJP and AAP became MLAs following the assembly polls in February this year.
Poll panel to use photos of candidates on EVMs to prevent confusion over namesakes
The Delhi State Election Commission will use photos of bona fide candidates on the EVM machines to be used in the MCD bypolls to prevent confusion among voters over multiplicity of candidates with the same names, officials said on October 28.
Cases have been noticed where two or more contesting candidates with the same name are in the fray. Names of such candidates due to alphabetical order, are printed together in the ballot papers, creating confusion in the minds of the voters, the officials said.
The Election Commission of India, in a letter issued to chief electoral officers of the states and Union Territories (UTs), issued directions that the printed postal ballot papers, ordinary ballot papers and those to be affixed on the balloting unit of the electronic voting machines should contain photographs of the candidates.
In a recently issued order, Delhi State Election Commissioner Vijay Dev has directed that every ballot paper for use in the MCD bypolls will contain colour photographs of the contesting candidates.
According to the guidelines, the colour photographs (2.5 cm x 2 cm) will display the face of the candidate on two-thirds of the photo space for better visibility.
The photographs will have a white or off-white background, with the full face of the candidate directly facing the camera, a neutral facial expression and eyes open.
If any candidate fails to provide his or her photograph or refuses to do so, then it will not appear on the balloting unit. However, nomination of such a candidate will not be rejected due to lack of a photograph, said the directions issued by Dev.
The candidates are required to submit their recent two colour photographs (taken within three months of the date of notification of the election) along with their filled-out nomination forms.
