BJP bets big on Congress, AAP turncoats: Arvinder Lovely, Kailash Gahlot in first candidate list for Delhi polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released it first list of candidate for the upcoming Delhi Assembly Election on Saturday, January 4. Among the 29 names in the list are candidates who were once prominent leaders in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress party in the national capital.

The elections to the 70-member Delhi assembly are expected to be held in February next year. The Election Commission of India has not announced the dates yet.

In its first list, the BJP fielded former Delhi Congress president and East Delhi leader, Arvinder Singh Lovely from Gandhi Nagar seat. Former Congress minister, Rajkumar Chauhan had been fielded from Mangolpuri seat.

Both these former Congress leaders joined the BJP in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Both were ministers in the previous Congress government led by the late Sheila Dikshit as chief minister.

The BJP has fielded former MLA Tarvinder Singh Marwah against AAP leader and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in Jangpura. Marwah is also a former Congress leader who won the Jangpura seat in 1998, 2003 and 2008 before switching to the saffron party.

AAP turncoats

Among AAP turncoats, Kailash Gahlot, who was a prominent member of the erstwhile Kejriwal Cabinet before joining the BJP last November, has been fielded from Bijwasan. 

Raaj Kumar Anand, another former AAP minister is BJP's candidate from Patel Nagar while former AAP MLA from Chhatarpur Kartar Singh Tanwar has been fielded from the same seat by the BJP in the February elections.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa, a former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader has been fielded from Rajouri Garden, Sirsa won the seat as SAD candidate in 2013 elections. He won the 2017 bypoll from Rajouri Garden too. Sirsa switched to the BJP in 2021.

BJP out of power since 1998

The BJP has been out of power in the national capital since 1998. The last time BJP had a chief minister in Delhi was in 1998, when the late Sushma Swaraj assumed the top post for 52 days.

Congress veteran late Sheila Dikshit was chief minister of Delhi for three terms from 1998 to 2013.

The saffron party has fielded former chief minister Sahib Singh Verma’s son Pravesh Sahib Singh Verma against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi seat. Pravesh Verma is a former BJP MP from West Delhi. 

The BJP has also fielded its former South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri against chief minister Atishi in Kalkaji in the upcoming assembly polls.