Twenty-one years after three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit fought her first election from Delhi, she set out again to file her nominations from the same area, from where she was fielded in 1998.
“It is certainly a very sentimental moment for me. I was introduced to Delhi’s politics from North East Delhi, which was then a part of the East Delhi parliamentary seat. I had followed the orders of my party back then to contest the elections, I am following the orders now,” Dikshit, who set out from her house in Nizamuddin East on Tuesday morning, said.
Before reaching the district magistrate office to file her nominations, Dikshit led a roadshow from Signature Bridge, a project conceived during her first tenure as CM in 1998. The project was stuck because of financial difficulties, before it was finally inaugurated by the AAP government in 2018. “It is symbolic. We had announced the project and started work. This is symbolic of the development work the Congress has done and stands for,” she said.
Former Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president and New Delhi candidate Ajay Maken decided against a roadshow and filed his papers at MB Road with his family and supporters. “Our focus should be to tell every household in Delhi about Congress’s minimum wage scheme where every poor family would get ₹72,000 annually,” he told his supporters after filing his nomination.
{{/usCountry}}Former Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president and New Delhi candidate Ajay Maken decided against a roadshow and filed his papers at MB Road with his family and supporters. “Our focus should be to tell every household in Delhi about Congress’s minimum wage scheme where every poor family would get ₹72,000 annually,” he told his supporters after filing his nomination.
{{/usCountry}}The party’s star candidate, professional boxer Vijender Singh, who was fielded from South Delhi in the last minute, filed his nomination in a hurry but that did not stop his supporters and fans from gathering outside his residence. Many believed his “role model” image would attract young voters.
“I will be the next Manny Pacquiao (Filipino professional boxer who later became a politician). I will change the image that sportsmen don’t make good politicians. I am the son of a driver and I know the youth wants employment. Jumlon se pet nahi bharta,” he said.
JP Agarwal from Chandni Chowk, Arvinder Singh Lovely from East Delhi and Mahabal Mishra from West followed suit and filed their papers. They were followed by supporters on motorcycles and cars. Mishra was carried by workers on their backs till the gates of the DM office and Lovely’s supporters were caught in a sloganeering match with BJP workers.