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Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Congress fields management graduate Dolly Sharma from Ghaziabad constituency
Dolly Sharma, Congress candidate from Ghaziabad Lok Sabha constituency, made her entry in active politics when she contested the 2017 urban local body elections for the post of Mayor in Ghaziabad.
The central election committee of the Congress party has nominated Dolly Sharma to contest on the party’s ticket from the Ghaziabad parliamentary constituency.
Sharma, 33, holds a Master’s in Business Administration degree. Before joining politics full time, she was into the cloth merchandising business.
She made her entry in active politics when she contested the 2017 urban local body elections for the post of Mayor in Ghaziabad.
The seat was reserved for women candidates but she lost to Asha Sharma, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) candidate, who secured the seat for the sixth time for the party.
In the results, which had been declared in December, 2017, BJP’S Asha had secured 282,793 votes while Dolly had been able to clinch 119,118 votes.
“After the 2017 elections, I am now full time into politics. This has helped me connect with people in different areas. Hence, it will not be difficult for me to campaign in whatever time is left till the polls. It has been my experience that people want a local person as an MP who is readily available and knows the city in and out,” Dolly said.
“My agenda is the development of Ghaziabad as it still lacks infrastructure as per the demand of its population. We need government schools, colleges, hospitals, etc besides working actively on issues of women safety and security. Helping youth get employment opportunities and actively resolving issues of farmers will also be a priority,” she added.
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Dolly Sharma’s candidature has come as a surprise for many as veteran leaders, including former MPS and other politicians had approached the party leadership to get a ticket.
Sources said that at least seven-eight names, including former MP Surendra Prakash Goyal, were sent to the party leadership for consideration.
The party leadership, however, trusted Dolly, the youngest of them, as a candidate who will now be battling polls in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bastion.
The last time that a Congress candidate had won the Lok Sabha seat in the Ghaziabad constituency was 2004. Then, Surendra Prakash Goyal defeated BJP’S Ramesh Chandra Tomar, when the seat was termed as the HapurGhaziabad parliamentary constituency.
In 2009, after delimitation of the seat, it became the Ghaziabad parliamentary constituency and was won by incumbent Union home minister Rajnath Singh of the BJP, who defeated Goyal by a huge margin. In 2014, seat was won by BJP MP and incumbent minister of state for foreign affairs Gen VK singh (retired).
