‘Para-dropped’ BJP candidates cost party dearer in election
11 Dec 2013 5:22 AM IST
The BJP lost almost all seats, on which genuine workers were ignored and open protests were crushed to oblige ‘para-dropped’ candidates, who were given tickets after hectic lobbying by senior party leaders.
According to highly placed sources, if the party had heeded to its workers and its internal surveys regarding ‘winnability’, it would have easily achieved over 40 seats in this assembly elections.
Furthermore, BJP lost four seats to Aam Admi Party (AAP) by less than 1,000 votes, while AAP lost only one such seat to the BJP.
The four seats BJP lost to AAP by less than 1,000 votes are Delhi Cantt (355 votes), Vikaspuri (405 votes), Sangam Vihar (777 votes), and Sadar Bazar (796 votes). Besides them 14 BJP seats were decided within the margin of 1,000- 3,000 votes. Among them BJP lost five, AAP lost six, Congress lost two and for one seat an independent candidate emerged as the runner up.
The most high profile seat BJP lost in this election is Greater Kailash, from where Ajay Malhotra was nominated to carry forward the political legacy of his father and BJP chief ministerial candidate for 2008 assembly elections, Vijay Kumar Malhotra. The Malhotra scion lost to AAP’s Subhash Bhardwaj by a huge margin of 13,092 votes.
Similarly, Rajiv Babbar, son of three-time BJP MLA from Tilak Nagar OP Babbar, was trusted to replace his father. However, he lost to AAP’s Jarnail Singh by 2,088 votes. These two candidates along with former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma’s son Pravesh Verma were criticised as ‘Shehzadas’ of the BJP. Pravesh, however managed to capture the Mehrauli seat by defeating AAP’s Narinder Singh with a margin of 4564 votes.
The seats where party workers had protested against nominated candidates are, Kasturba Nagar, Mehrauli, Shakur Basti, and Seelampur. The protests over Shikha Rai’s nomination from Kasturba Nagar were so intense that former mayor of south DMC, Savita Gupta, had apparently approached AAP to contest as a rival candidate. Rai lost this seat to Madan Lal of AAP by 4,674 votes. The party workers of Shakur Basti staged intense protests at Delhi BJP office forcing senior party leader Arun Jaitley to intervene. BJP lost this seat by 7,062 votes to AAP.
At Seelampur BJP workers protested against ‘outsider’ Kaushal Kishore Mishra and he lost to Congress by 21,728 votes. North DMC mayor Azad Singh lost the Mundka seat to party rebel Rambir Shokeen by 7,134 votes. Shokeen contested independently after being denied a BJP ticket.
Similarly, BJP lost Karolbagh, Laxmi Nagar, Model Town, Mustafabad, Sadar Bazar, Kondli, Malviya Nagar and Gandhi Nagar seats due to giving tickets to candidates, which were a result of hectic lobbying from the higher echelons of the party.
According to highly placed sources, if the party had heeded to its workers and its internal surveys regarding ‘winnability’, it would have easily achieved over 40 seats in this assembly elections.
Furthermore, BJP lost four seats to Aam Admi Party (AAP) by less than 1,000 votes, while AAP lost only one such seat to the BJP.
The four seats BJP lost to AAP by less than 1,000 votes are Delhi Cantt (355 votes), Vikaspuri (405 votes), Sangam Vihar (777 votes), and Sadar Bazar (796 votes). Besides them 14 BJP seats were decided within the margin of 1,000- 3,000 votes. Among them BJP lost five, AAP lost six, Congress lost two and for one seat an independent candidate emerged as the runner up.
The most high profile seat BJP lost in this election is Greater Kailash, from where Ajay Malhotra was nominated to carry forward the political legacy of his father and BJP chief ministerial candidate for 2008 assembly elections, Vijay Kumar Malhotra. The Malhotra scion lost to AAP’s Subhash Bhardwaj by a huge margin of 13,092 votes.
Similarly, Rajiv Babbar, son of three-time BJP MLA from Tilak Nagar OP Babbar, was trusted to replace his father. However, he lost to AAP’s Jarnail Singh by 2,088 votes. These two candidates along with former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma’s son Pravesh Verma were criticised as ‘Shehzadas’ of the BJP. Pravesh, however managed to capture the Mehrauli seat by defeating AAP’s Narinder Singh with a margin of 4564 votes.
The seats where party workers had protested against nominated candidates are, Kasturba Nagar, Mehrauli, Shakur Basti, and Seelampur. The protests over Shikha Rai’s nomination from Kasturba Nagar were so intense that former mayor of south DMC, Savita Gupta, had apparently approached AAP to contest as a rival candidate. Rai lost this seat to Madan Lal of AAP by 4,674 votes. The party workers of Shakur Basti staged intense protests at Delhi BJP office forcing senior party leader Arun Jaitley to intervene. BJP lost this seat by 7,062 votes to AAP.
At Seelampur BJP workers protested against ‘outsider’ Kaushal Kishore Mishra and he lost to Congress by 21,728 votes. North DMC mayor Azad Singh lost the Mundka seat to party rebel Rambir Shokeen by 7,134 votes. Shokeen contested independently after being denied a BJP ticket.
Similarly, BJP lost Karolbagh, Laxmi Nagar, Model Town, Mustafabad, Sadar Bazar, Kondli, Malviya Nagar and Gandhi Nagar seats due to giving tickets to candidates, which were a result of hectic lobbying from the higher echelons of the party.
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