BJP has dropped candidates for six of Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha MPs

New Delhi:

The BJP’s two lists of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections send a clear signal that the leadership is giving high priority to anti-incumbency sentiments while finalizing its names for the polls. The party may be publicly dismissive of opposition challenges, but the 267 nominees finalized so far suggest it is brainstorming for every seat. Nowhere is this more evident than in the national capital Delhi.

The BJP won all seven seats in Delhi in the 2014 and 2019 elections. Despite the winning streak, the party has replaced six of its seven candidates, with singer-turned-politician Manoj Tiwari the only survivor among the current MPs.

Among the eliminated MPs, Harsh Vardhan, Meenakshi Lekhi, Ramesh Bidhuri and Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma had won back-to-back in 2014 and 2019. Other MPs eliminated include cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir and singer Hans Raj Hans.

The BJP leader emphasized that winning ability is a key factor in selecting candidates. It is learned that Bidhuri and Verma were deducted points for making controversial remarks that landed the party in trouble. Mr Gambhir had earlier said he had urged the party leadership to remove him from political duties so that he could focus on his cricketing duties. Shortly after his candidacy was abandoned, Vardhan also announced his retirement from politics.

The six new faces chosen by the BJP for the Delhi seat are Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of a BJP stalwart, the late Sushma Swaraj, Yogendra Chandoliya, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Harsh Malhotra, businessman and trader leader Praveen Ramveer Singh Bidhuri (Ramvir Singh Bidhuri) Khandelwal and Kamaljit Serawat. Except Bansuri Swaraj, the other five candidates are seasoned politicians with extensive experience at the organizational level.

Why Manoj Tiwari survived

Mr. Tiwari, one of the most popular stars of the Bhojpuri film industry, started his political career with the Samajwadi Party before joining the BJP. In 2014, he was elected to Lok Sabha from northeast Delhi and won again in 2019. Mr. Tiwari, who also served as Delhi BJP president, has a sizeable following among immigrants from the Purvanchal district of eastern Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar. Between the 2014 and 2019 elections, Mr Tiwari’s margin of victory jumped by 200,000 votes.

Mr Tiwari was also at the forefront of the BJP’s attack on the Aam Aadmi Party government over the now-defunct liquor policy.

Congress-AAP alliance factors

As per the seat-sharing understanding within India’s opposition blocs, the AAP and Congress will contest four and three seats respectively in Delhi. In the 2019 polls, the vote share of AAP and Congress was about 18% and 22% respectively. The Bharatiya Janata Party received nearly 57% of the votes. In 2014, AAP had about 33% vote share and Congress had more than 15% vote share. The BJP knows that this time, thanks to the Indian alliance, the opposition votes will not be split. And they’re in no mood to break their 7-0 winning streak.