MCD polls: Scrutiny of nominations over, 1,416 candidates in fray

In its final report on the nominations, the commission said it scrutinised 2585 nominations and rejected 1169 of them

The scrutiny of nomination papers for the December 4 Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls culminated on Thursday, leaving 1,416 candidates in the fray. The State Election Commission was unable to complete the process as per schedule on Wednesday due to an unprecedented rush of candidates. It has rejected over 45% of nominations. There is a relatively smaller number of candidates contesting the polls with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the main contestants.

There is a relatively smaller number of candidates contesting the polls. (PTI)

In its final report on the nominations, the commission said it scrutinised 2585 nominations and rejected 1169 of them. The accepted nominations are almost half of those in the 2017 MCD elections (2809). The delimitation process has since reduced 22 municipal wards, bringing them down from 272 to 250.

The commission said the most common reasons for the rejection of the nominations were incomplete details, missing affidavits, supporting paperwork, and non-submission of caste certificates. “In many cases, the documentation of the proposers was not sufficient. The candidates from recognised national or Delhi state parties submit nomination papers proposed by one elector from the ward they are contesting from other candidates need 10 proposers,” an official said.

The BJP and AAP have 250 candidates each in the fray and Congress has 247. As many as 439 independent candidates are also contesting the polls. The Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded 138 candidates.

Nominations of Congress’s Surender Singh and Dev Sushila Madan Khorwal were among those rejected. Bala Subramanyam did not file her nomination from Lajpat Nagar until the last date for nominations.

As many as 24 wards have just three candidates, 53 have four while 59 have four contestants. The commission has collected over ₹75 lakh as the nomination fee from the 1416 candidates. The candidates will be able to withdraw their nominations till Saturday.