NEW DELHI: On Monday, Aam Aadmi Party candidate Durgesh Pathak, Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate Rajesh Bhatia, and Congress candidate Prem Lata were among the total 20 candidates who filed their nomination papers for the upcoming
bypoll
for the Rajendra Nagar assembly constituency.
The polling for the assembly seat, which has been vacant since AAP MLA Raghav Chadha was elected to Rajya Sabha from Punjab, will take place on June 23, and the counting will be held on June 26. Monday was the last date for filing nominations.
Prior to filing his nomination, Pathak led a roadshow in the constituency, which was attended by Delhi State Convenor Gopal Rai, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, AAP MLAs Atishi, Sanjeev Jha, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Dilip Pandey and others.
“AAP is ready and looking forward to this by-election. During the roadshow, the people of Rajendra Nagar showed their overwhelming support and engaged with great enthusiasm,” Pathak said. “I assured the residents that I will work as their suffering were my own,” he said.
BJP candidate Rajesh Bhatia filed his nomination papers in the presence of State BJP president Adesh Gupta and Union state minister Meenakshi Lekhi. The party said in a statement that Bhatia started a ‘Vijay Sankalp Jaloos’ from the district office with party leaders and workers.
Talking to reporters after Bhatia’s nomination, Gupta said that the enthusiasm among people of this area is proof that AAP is going to be wiped out this time. Lekhi alleged that Delhi CM Kejriwal has done nothing in the past seven years.
Congress candidate Prem Lata filed her nomination papers accompanied by senior leaders of the party. Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ch Anil Kumar said that Congress has fielded a grass-root level worker, as she is well-aware of the problems facing the constituency. He alleged that both the BJP and AAP governments have neglected the area for the past eight years.