A total of 923 candidates are in the fray for the coming elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly.
Wednesday was the last date for filing nominations for the Delhi Assembly elections and with many big names in the contest opting to submit their nomination, there was rush at most centres in the city.
In the last assembly elections held in 2013, a total of 1,150 candidates had filed their nominations. The final number of candidates who did contest the election, however, was reduced to 810 after withdrawals.
The last day for withdrawal of nomination is January 24.
Apart from the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Kiran Bedi, Aam Aadmi Par ty’s (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal and Ajay Maken of Congress, other political heavyweights who chose to file their nominations on the last day include BJP’s Jagdish Mukhi, Vijender Gupta, Nand Kishore Garg and Yogendra Chandolia.
The largest number of candidates are going to contest from the New Delhi constituency, with 23 candidates filing nominations from the assembly seat.
The lowest number of nominations have been filed for the Ambedkar Nagar constituency at just six nominations. Gokalpur assembly constituency saw only eight nominations while some other constituencies such as Patel Nagar, Sultanpur Majra and Rohini saw nine nominations each.
There are now just 15 days left for the political parties for campaign, as canvassing is now allowed 48 hours prior to February 7, the day Delhi goes to polls again in a little more than a year. A large number of political rallies from national political leaders are expected in Delhi in the next fortnight, apart from extensive campaigning by candidates in their areas.
© Provided by Hindustan Times BJP workers celebrate after the party win at Pandara counting centre in Ranchi on Tuesday. (Parwaz Khan/HT Photo)
The Delhi Electoral office has also started preparations for the election exercise with not many days left for the polls.
To ensure a free and fair election, the electoral office has booked 10,569 people under various sections of CRPC and DP Act. Apart from this, 117 FIR’s have been lodged against political parties for violation of model code of conduct. The office has also removed 1,566 hoardings from public property and 63 hoardings from private properties.
