MCD elections: Purvanchalis, amateurs among BJP candidates
The party has given tickets to nearly 10 per cent Purvanchali candidates in a total of 272 wards in the three municipal corporations. In the last MCD elections, the BJP fielded 14 Purvanchali candidates. This time the number has been increased to 27
Politicians make a lot of promises during elections but never fulfill them, Sunita Kaushik, a housewife from Todapur in Inderpuri area, had told Manoj Tiwari when the Delhi BJP chief was staying in the slum as part of his ‘reality check’ campaign in December-January.
Kaushik, who will contest the April 23 municipal elections on the BJP ticket from Inderpuri, will now have a taste of life on the other side.
“Her pain was genuine. I assured her that I understand her complaints and will do something about it. I told her that you would become a politician soon. I discussed her case with party president Amit Shah, who readily agreed to nominate her as party candidate,” Tiwari said.
She is among a number of people with no political experience or background who have been chosen by the BJP as its candidate for the MCD polls.
A disabled young woman, Rinki Kumari, 36, is the BJP candidate from Lado Sarai ward. She is a commerce graduate from Aurobindo College and lives in Kusumpur Pahari area.
“Her application for the party ticket had a remark “a good party worker but a divyanag (disabled),” said Tiwari.
Poorva Sankla, 24, a B-Tech from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, is the youngest and most qualified BJP candidate in the municipal elections.
She is contesting from Raghubir Nagar (reserved) ward, which comes under South Delhi Municipal Corporation.
In addition to 136 reserved wards for women, the party has nominated women candidates on two general wards—Preeti Agarwal (Rohini F) and Aprana Goel (IP Extention).
This time, the BJP has also fielded nearly double the number of people belonging to Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh as compared to the last civic body polls held in 2012.
The party has given tickets to nearly 10 per cent Purvanchali candidates in a total of 272 wards in the three municipal corporations. “In the last MCD elections, the BJP fielded 14 Purvanchali candidates. This time the number has been increased to 27,” Tiwari said.
According to an estimate, the city has around 35 lakh purvanchali residents, which is roughly 20% of the total population.
The party has been focusing on seats that have a sizeable number of Purvanchali voters. Tiwari, himself a Purvanchali, had been wooing the community hard which was traditionally Congress voters. In the 2015 assembly elections, however, they switched sides to AAP. The Aam Aadmi Party have several MLAs belonging to the community.