Lok Sabha elections: BJP calls for new list of candidates for Delhi

The BJP has asked its Delhi unit and city Lok Sabha poll in-charge Nirmala Sitharaman to send a fresh list of shortlisted candidates for the seven Lok Sabha constituencies here, sources said on Monday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) with BJP President mit Shah at the party's central election committee (CEC) meet. Photo: Twitter

NEW DELHI: The BJP has asked its Delhi unit and city Lok Sabha poll in-charge Nirmala Sitharaman to send a fresh list of shortlisted candidates for the seven Lok Sabha constituencies here, sources said on Monday. The sources claimed the party was "unhappy" with its Delhi unit objecting to celebrities being considered to contest the upcoming polls and directed the unit to rework the list of candidates it had submitted to the central leadership. "The central leadership wants more recommendations from the state unit since they feel that Delhi being a key unit has to play a more proactive role," a party functionary said. The party leadership has directed Sitharaman, co in-charge Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya and state general secretary (organisation) Siddharthan to prepare a new list of candidates, he said. According to the party's city unit, with Delhi elections also due in the next few months, the celebrities if elected to Parliament will not be able to establish a rapport with the ground workers which may hamper the party's electoral prospects, the sources said. The unit had forwarded names of some of its office-bearers for the seven seats which was not much to the liking of the central leadership, they said. Meanwhile, the work for setting up of Delhi BJP's Lok Sabha Election Office on Pandit Pant Marg started on Monday with a puja.