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Delhi polls: BSP out with first list, fields dropped AAP MLA
New Delhi:
New Delhi:
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Saturday released its first list of candidates for the February 8 Delhi assembly polls in Delhi and fielded one of the dropped AAP MLAs.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has already declared its full list of candidates and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress their first list of 57 and 54 contestants, respectively.
The BSP gave ticket to N D Sharma, AAP MLA from Badarpur who was dropped in the 2020 list. From Badarpur, AAP gave ticket to Ram Singh Netaji, who was a BSP MLA from the same constituency between 2008 and 2013. In 2015, Netaji had unsuccessfully contested against Sharma.
“I was betrayed by AAP. But I had to fight elections for the people. The BSP was the first to offer me candidature and to back me and the party has won the Badarpur seat once (referring to Netaji),” said Sharma, one of the 15 sitting MLAs dropped by the AAP.
The BSP, in its Saturday list, announced candidates in 42 out of 70 seats in Delhi. But the party’s Delhi convener C P Singh said they will field candidates in all 70 seats.
On Sharma being given a ticket, Singh said, “The AAP betrayed him. He is a capable leader. We have trust in him.”
The BSP repeated none of its candidates from the 2019 Lok Sabha polls or any of its past MLAs in Delhi, Singh confirmed.
AAP refused to comment on Sharma’s candidature with a BSP ticket.
The BSP has been contesting assembly elections in Delhi since 1993. It was only in 2003 that the party fielded candidates from all 70 assembly seats. Since then, the party had fielded candidates from all seats every assembly election, although the only time it had managed to win seats (two) was in 2008.
It was also the year when the party secured a vote share of around 14%, its highest to date in assembly elections in Delhi.
Since 2004, the party has been contesting general elections in Delhi and it fielding candidates from all seven seats but never managed to win even one.
In 2009, the party secured a vote share of around 5.2%, its highest tally in Delhi so far in Lok Sabha elections.
