As only a few months are left for the Delhi Assembly elections, the BJP's state election committee has shortlisted the names of around 225-230 potential candidates for the total 70 seats, party leaders said on Friday. The panel headed by Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva met for over four hours on Thursday to screen the names of suitable candidates from among a list of over 700 compiled by the Central observers, said a top party leader associated with the exercise.
"The election committee shortlisted 3-4 names of potential candidates on each of the 70 seats. These names will be further discussed and shortlisted in the next meeting of the committee likely to be held on Saturday," he said.
The names of the candidates are likely to be declared next week after the list of shortlisted candidates is discussed by the BJP's central election committee, he added.
The BJP is slow in completing the candidate selection process even as its main rival and ruling Aam Aadmi party (AAP) has already announced all its candidates.
The Congress too has declared its candidates on 21 seats so far.
"Unlike those parties where one leader or a group of leaders call the shots, the BJP follows an established decentralised process of candidates selection giving every worker a chance to stake his claim for the party tickets," said the party leader.
In the names shortlisted so far, several senior leaders of Delhi BJP, prominent faces of other parties who recently switched sides and the sitting party MLAs have emerged as the front runner contenders for the ticket, he said.
Sources in the party claimed that the names of former MP Parvesh Verma from New Delhi and Sachdeva's names were shortlisted for the election tickets. Verma, the son of former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, has already claimed that he was asked by the party to prepare from New Delhi seat.
There is buzz over Sachdeva likely to be fielded from either of the constituencies, including Patparganj, Krishna Nagar or Kasturba Nagar.
Sources also claimed that some senior leaders, who failed to win from their constituencies in the 2020 Assembly polls, were also in the race.
The BJP won just eight seats in the 2020 polls. A few of its current seven MLAs might be dropped this time, hinted the sources.
The leaders like Arvinder Singh Lovely, Raj Kumar Chauhan, Kailash Gahlot and Raaj Kumar Anand, who recently joined the BJP, are also in active consideration, they said.
(With Inputs From PTI)
