AAP, BJP picks file paperson Day Two of nominations

Sahi Ram Pahalwan and Bansuri Swaraj reached the office of the returning officer after holding roadshows in their respective constituencies

Aam Aadmi Party’s South Delhi nominee, Sahi Ram Pahalwan, and Bharatiya Janata Party’s New Delhi candidate, Bansuri Swaraj, were among 15 candidates who filed their nomination papers across the seven Lok Sabha constituencies on Tuesday, taking the overall count of nominations so far to 30, officers aware of the matter said.

AAP’s candidate from South Delhi, Sahi Ram Pahalwan, in Okhla in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

Pahalwan and Swaraj reached the office of the returning officer after holding roadshows accompanied by ministers and senior party leaders in their respective constituencies.

Sahi Ram Pahalwan

Pahalwan, the incumbent legislator from Tughlakabad, started his day at 9am at Tehkhand village’s Durga temple and undertook an 8-km-long roadshow, passing through Kalkaji and Ravidas Temple. The roadshow ended at the district magistrate’s office in Mehrauli. The AAP candidate was accompanied by Delhi cabinet ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj and Atishi along with party MLAs, municipal councillors and hundreds of supporters. AAP workers moved along the entourage with brooms in their hands.

Addressing his party workers and supporters during the roadshow, Pahalwan said the people will elect the person who has worked for the area and society. “This time, the election results will be opposite to last elections, and the BJP will be at the last position. Arvind Kejriwal has been arrested but his wife Sunita Kejriwal is trying to fill in the void. People of Delhi are standing against the 10 years of misrule of the BJP and are standing with the nine years of development of Arvind Kejriwal. Delhi will fight, the INDIA block will win.”

Atishi said the BJP had thought that if they arrest Kejriwal, the AAP will not be able to campaign. “They arrested Arvind Kejriwal, so thousands of people have come out on the streets of Delhi to campaign for the AAP. The AAP is not campaigning, rather, the people of Delhi are campaigning for us. Delhiites are making us contest the elections, and the people of Delhi will help us win the elections.”

She added that the BJP MPs did not visit their areas, once elected. “This time the people of Delhi are not going to be fooled. They have decided that they will answer the false arrest and jail to Kejriwal with their votes.”

Bharadwaj said the 2023 Lok Sabha elections are different from 2019 and 2014. “In last elections, people had a lot of expectations from the BJP. All those expectations have vanished. People are afraid whether democracy and elections will survive in the country or not. Whether the Constitution and [caste] reservations will survive in the country or not.”

According to the affidavit filed with the returning officer, Sahi Ram, 63, 11th pass from Badarpur Government Senior Secondary School. The affidavit says that Pahalwan has moveable assets worth Rs34.8 lakh and immovable assets of ₹1.04 crore. He has liabilities worth ₹3.2 lakh in the form of bank loans. The affidavit shows that he has been convicted in three cases-- pasting of posters and defacement of property, assault for an issue related to road construction by MCD and altercation during a demolition drive by DDA. Fines were imposed in these cases.

Bansuri Swaraj

BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, held in a “hawan and puja” ceremony before starting the road show from Tughlaq Lane to Jam Nagar House near India Gate in New Delhi to file her nomination papers. In the roadshow, Swaraj was accompanied by the Union minister Hardeep Puri, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva and her father Swaraj Kaushal. The roadshow was accompanied by a bike rally by BJP workers started around 10.15am from Tughlaq Lane and passed through Prithviraj Road, Shajahan Road, India Gate C-hexagon before coming to an end at Jamnagar House on Akbar Road at 11.30am.

Swaraj said that she was overwhelmed with the blessings being showered by the people. “This is a national election and we are fighting on the basis of a 10-year report card of the works carried out by the BJP government. In Delhi, CM Arvind Kejriwal has not allowed many schemes of the central government to be implemented in Delhi out of politics of resentment (dwesh). We are determined to implement Ayushman Bharat in Delhi,” she added. She said the BJP will accomplish the goal of “viksit bharat” (developed India).

Union minister Hardeep Puri said that Sushma Swaraj was the ideal face of Indian politics and “glimpses of her can be seen in her daughter Bansuri Swaraj”.

“400 seat mark is a sentiment. We got 303 seats last time.. 15% more seats would take us to 345 and with allies, we will get more than 400 seats. We have just reached the second phase, five more phases of polling is yet to be conducted, and we will get more than 400 seats. The BJP will win all seven seats in Delhi,” the minister said.

According to her poll affidavit, Swaraj, 40, has a Master’s of Studies from St Catherines College, University of Oxford. She is also a barrister of law from Inner Temple, London. She did her BA (Hons) from University of Warwick (UK) and schooling at the Vasant Valley School, Delhi. According to the affidavit, Bansuri Swaraj owns moveable assets worth Rs11.27 crore and immoveable assets worth ₹10.52 crore, which also includes inherited assets. The affidavit says that she owns two vehicles --a Mercedes Benz and Toyota Rumion and 2022grams gold inherited from her mother and grandparents. The immoveable assets include land in Palwal, Haryana and residential property at Jantar Mantar Road and Hailey Road.