New Delhi, Jan 11, 2025, IANS

New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS) The Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held a crucial meeting to finalise the remaining candidates for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections which are scheduled to be held on February 5. The meeting, which took place at the BJP headquarters, on Friday saw the participation of key leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, along with several prominent Delhi BJP leaders. According to sources, the meeting primarily focused on the remaining seats in Delhi, where discussions were held to finalise the candidates for those constituencies. The stage is all set for a high-octane election battle between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). While the Congress, the third biggest party in Delhi, striving for a revival of its electoral ground. The BJP is making all-out attempts to come back to power in Delhi after over two decades focussing on its slogan "Parivartan" (change) and a targeted campaign against the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP over scam allegations, including liquor policy case. The BJP has so far released names of 29 candidates for the Delhi Assembly elections setting the stage for multi-cornered contests on several seats in the capital. Kailash Gahlot who had recently quit the AAP, alleging 'political ambitions' have overtaken the party's commitment towards people has been fielded from Bijwasan. In other big contests, the BJP has fielded Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Congress Sandeep Dikshit in New Delhi, Ramesh Bidhuri against CM Atishi and Congress' Alka Lamba in Kalkaji, Vijender Gupta from Rohini, Rajkumar Chauhan from Mangolpuri, Arvinder Singh Lovely from Gandhinagar, Dushyant Kumar Gautam from Karol Bagh, Manjinder Singh Sirsa from Rajouri Garden, Raaj Kumar Anand from Patel Nagar, Ashish Sood in Janakpuri, and Tarwinder Singh Marwaha against Manish Sisodia in Jangpura. Sources suggest that the BJP is likely to release the final list of candidates for these constituencies in Delhi on Saturday. However, discussions are still ongoing for 8-12 constituencies, and a core group meeting of the BJP will be held on Saturday (January 11) to finalise those. BJP President JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah will lead this core group meeting. On January 4, the BJP had already released its first list of 29 candidates for the 70-member Delhi Assembly. The meeting was also attended by Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva, Organisation Secretary Pawan Rana, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta, Union Minister Harsh Malhotra, and other core group members. It is expected that the remaining candidates' names will be announced in the coming days. The Delhi Assembly elections are scheduled to take place in a single phase on February 5, with the results to be declared on February 8. In the 2020 Assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swept the polls, winning 62 out of 70 seats. The BJP managed to secure eight seats, while the Congress failed to open its account. As per the Election Commission, voter turnout was recorded at 62.82 per cent, a decline of 4.65 per cent from the 2015 Assembly election in Delhi. The AAP received 49,74,592 votes, or 53.57 per cent of the total valid votes polled, while the BJP received 35,75,529 votes or 38.51 per cent of the total valid votes polled.