The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday formed a 17-member election committee in view of the upcoming 70-member Delhi Assembly polls due in Februray 2025.
The committee has been formed at the direction of BJP President JP Nadda and includes the party's Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva, all seven Lok Sabha MPs from the national capital, and senior leaders Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Dushyant Gautam, and Arvinder Singh Lovely, among others.
As per the list issued by the party, the panel also includes Delhi BJP Mahila Morcha chief Richa Mishra as an ex-officio member and State election in-charge Baijayant Panda, and co-in-charges Atul Garg and Alka Gurjar as special invitees.
The BJP has reached the advanced stages of candidate selection and is anticipated to announce the candidates' names in the last week of December, news agency PTI reported citing sources.
Kejriwal Leads Protest Against BJP In Delhi Over Shah's Ambedkar Remark
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal led a protest near the BJP headquarters in Delhi over Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks on BR Ambedkar. He demanded strict action against Shah, stating that his statement hurt the sentiments of Dalits.
The former Delhi chief minister stated that the AAP will go door to door in the city ahead of the Assembly polls and tell people about the "insult of Ambedkar" by Shah. 'The way Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended Shah, it appears that what he said in Parliament was a 'pre-meditated conspiracy' of the BJP," Kejriwal charged.
He further alleged that the remark made by Shah also "hurt the crores of followers of Ambedkar like him".
Addressing the protesters, he added, "strict action should be taken against Shah so that the anger of the people subsides even though it will not go away completely".