New Delhi [India]: The Republican Party of India (Athawale) RPI (A), an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has declared its active participation in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections. On Saturday, the party announced its list of 15 candidates contesting from various constituencies in the state.
The list includes prominent names such as Laxmi (Sultanpur Mazra), Asha Kamble (Kondli), Deepak Chawla (Timarpur), Shubhi Saxena (New Delhi), Ranjeet (Patparganj), Vijay Pal Singh (Laxmi Nagar), Kanhiya (Narela), Tajender Singh (Sangam Vihar), Manisha (Sadar Bazar), Ram Naresh Nishad (Malviya Nagar), Manjoor Ali (Tughlakabad), Harshit Tyagi (Badarpur), Sachin Gupta (Chandni Chowk), and Manoj Kashyap (Matiyara Maharal).
For the remaining constituencies in the 70-seat Delhi legislature, RPI(A) will extend its support to BJP candidates.
The Delhi Assembly elections are scheduled to be held on February 5, with the counting of votes on February 8. Candidates can file their nominations until January 17, and the scrutiny of nominations will occur on January 18. The last date for withdrawing candidatures is January 20.
The BJP has so far announced candidates for 29 constituencies, while the Congress has named 47 candidates in two separate lists. In contrast, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has finalized its candidates for all 70 seats.
In the previous two Delhi Assembly elections, Congress suffered significant setbacks, failing to win a single seat after ruling Delhi for 15 years. Meanwhile, AAP dominated the 2020 polls, securing 62 seats, while the BJP won eight.
In a related development, Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav criticized the Delhi government for its alleged inaction on welfare policies for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) over the past decade.
Yadav accused the AAP government of failing to advocate for the inclusion of the Jat community in the OBC list after the Supreme Court excluded them in 2014. “Delhi’s OBC list included the Jat community during Sheila Dikshit’s time. The UPA government granted OBC status to Jats in seven states. However, this decision was challenged in the Supreme Court in 2014. Due to the NDA government’s failure to pursue the matter properly, Jats were ousted from the OBC list. Where was Arvind Kejriwal during this time?” Yadav questioned.
He further criticized the Delhi government for not considering Jats for job opportunities in the Environment Department and failing to introduce new schemes or scholarships benefiting OBC children in the last ten years. “The Delhi government has failed to bring any new policies for the welfare of OBCs. Children are being deprived of scholarships, and the Jat community has been overlooked in job opportunities,” Yadav alleged.