Delhi Assembly elections 2025: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has today (December 18) announced the State Election Committee for the upcoming polls. Formed at the direction of BJP President JP Nadda, the committee includes the party's Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva, all seven Lok Sabha MPs from the capital, and senior leaders Dushyant Gautam, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, and Arvinder Singh Lovely as members, among others.
State election in-charge Baijayant Panda, and co-in-charges Atul Garg and Alka Gurjar are special invitees to the panel, which also includes Delhi BJP Mahila Morcha chief Richa Mishra as an ex-officio member, as per the list issued by the party.
Elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly are due in February. The BJP is in advanced stages of candidate selection, and the names are likely to be announced in the last week of December.
Earlier, BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj exuded confidence in BJP's victory in Delhi as she slammed the ruling Aam Aadmi Party's candidate list in the run-up to Delhi Assembly elections 2025. Speaking to media, Swaraj said that AAP may announce whichever name they want but the people of Delhi have decided their final pack up.
"AAP released its final list on December 16. They may announce whichever name they want but the people of Delhi have decided their final pack up," Swaraj said.
Earlier, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari said that while it may be part of their "strategy," "no one wants AAP candidates to win" as the party has failed Delhi. Commenting on AAP's candidate list, Tiwari said, "It doesn't matter to us. They have released a list, and they will later make changes to it. It is their strategy, but no one wants AAP candidates to win. AAP has failed Delhi."
AAP unveiled its fourth and final list of 38 candidates on Sunday for the 2025 Delhi Elections.
According to the list, the party's national convener and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will contest from New Delhi, Chief Minister Atishi from Kalkaji, Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj from Greater Kailash, and Minister Gopal Rai from Babarpur. Additionally, Satyendra Kumar Jain will contest from Shakur Basti, Durgesh Pathak from Rajinder Nagar, Ramesh Pehalwan from Kasturba Nagar, Raghuvinder Shokeen from Nangloi Jat, Som Dutt from Sadar Bazar, Imran Hussain from Ballimaran, and Jarnail Singh from Tilak Nagar.
The list features two new names, while 36 sitting MLAs have been re-nominated. AAP has fielded Ramesh Pehalwan from Kasturba Nagar and Pooja Naresh Balyan, wife of BJP leader Naresh Balyan, from Uttam Nagar.
On Sunday, BJP leader Ramesh Pehalwan and his wife Kusumlata Ramesh joined AAP in the presence of Arvind Kejriwal, the party's national convener.AAP released its third list of candidates on Friday, fielding Tarun Yadav from Najafgarh. Earlier, on December 9, the party issued its second list, replacing 17 sitting MLAs with new faces. However, three familiar names- Manish Sisodia, Rakhi Birla, and Deepu Chaudhary- were re-nominated. Chaudhary had previously contested but lost in the last election. Congress, which ruled Delhi for 15 consecutive years, has struggled in the past two assembly elections, failing to win any seats. In 2020, AAP won 62 out of 70 seats, while BJP secured the remaining eight.
