BJP bars sitting councillors from taking part in elections

In a bid to defeat antiincumbency of 10 years by “infusing fresh blood” into the upcoming municipal polls, the Delhi BJP, who is ruling the three municipal bodies for the last two terms, has decided to drop all its sitting councillors from the list of candidates. The announcement was made by Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari on Tuesday.

Mr Tiwari said that the party leadership has unanimously decided to field fresh faces in the municipal elections and even family members of the sitting councillors and party leaders will not be given tickets.

The move is inspired from the party’s decision taken during the civic polls in Surat, Gujarat, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of state.

According to Mr Tiwari, the party has taken an organisational decision related to the preparations for these elections unanimously with the state office-bearers and accordingly, the BJP will give opportunity to youth for the ensuing civic elections.

The Delhi BJP president claimed that the decision was a step towards realising Mr Modi’s vision of a “new India” driven by the power of the youth to make a “new city”.

Party’s Lok Sabha member from the city Harsh Vardhan, Maheish Girri, Parvesh Verma and Udit Raj were present at the press conference in which the announcement was made, ostensibly in a move to project the party’s unity over the decision. When asked, Mr Tiwari brushed aside speculations that the step may result in infighting and the standing councillors rebelling against the party. “In the BJP, people do not work for posts. Everyone will work together and people will also accept it,” he said.

Attacking chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Mr Tiwari said that the verdicts in Punjab and Goa have “shown the AAP the mirror and it will face a similar situation in the national capital”.

The BJP has 153 councillors in the three civic bodies, namely North Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation and East Delhi Municipal Corporation. These bodies constitute 272 seats.