Most who switched loyalties ahead of MCD elections rewarded with tickets

NEW DELHI: Several municipal leaders who joined their rival parties ahead of the civic elections in Delhi have been given ticket to contest the December 4 polls. According to the state election commission, 2,585 nominations were filed by 2,021 candidates till Monday, which was the last day for filling candidature.

Guddi Devi, who represented Malka Ganj ward in 2017 as a Congress candidate, has now been fielded by the AAP. She joined the party in February 2020. “The way Arvind Kejriwal has worked in the Delhi government, we will work in the MCD also when the AAP comes to power in the civic body,” she said.

Mukesh Goel, a five-term Congress councillor from the Adarsh Nagar ward, is contesting on an AAP ticket this year. “I consulted 4,000 Congress workers and local residents before joining the AAP,” Goel said.

Similarly, AAP alderman Ram Raj Tiwari has been fielded by the BJP from Bhajanpura ward this year. “I joined the BJP around a year ago. I had difference of opinion with the AAP leaders, so I decided to leave AAP,” said Tiwari.

Devender Kumar, a former AAP leader, will contest on a Congress ticket this time from the Amar Colony ward. A former councillor (2012-17) from Karawal Nagar (west), Dharmendra Singh, who was until recently with the BJP, has switched over to the Congress. “I am contesting the election as Congress candidate. I have worked for the people of this ward and people want me to represent them again,” said Dharmendra Singh.

AAP MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak said that there is no problem in accepting leaders from other parties if they have a clean image. “Such people do not face any problem in the AAP because there is a huge positivity in favour of Arvind Kejriwal,” said Pathak.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said anyone who has faith in the BJP ideology can fight elections on the party ticket. “The party has given tickets to everyone including the turncoats on the basis of merits and winnability factors,” said Kapoor.

Tanvir Aeijaz, associate professor of Political Science at Ramjas College, said: “People support particular political parties because they think that certain parties can serve their interests better. When people switch sides, especially to parties with opposite ideologies, people think that parties do not hold relevance and it is the leader who is more important. This is particularly pronounced when it comes to local politics.but such a situation is not good for democracy.”