NEW DELHI: While a majority of candidates nominated by political parties are relatively new, there are some wards where experienced faces have been nominated again, which will make the competition tough.
The key wards where an intense battle is expected include Keshav Puram, Vinod Nagar, Dwarka B, Mayur Vihar-II, Daryaganj and Srinivaspuri.
BJP has nominated Yogesh Verma from Keshav Puram seat again. In the 2017-2022 tenure, he served as the Leader of the House, a member of the standing committee and a DDA member from the erstwhile north corporation. He will be facing AAP’s Vikas Goel, who was Leader of the Opposition in the erstwhile north corporation during the same period and was continuously raising issues at every House meeting.
Goel was elected as councillor from Wazirpur, but after reservation of his ward due to delimitation, AAP decided to field him from Keshav Puram.
Asked about his chance of winning, Verma said, “After delimitation, 25 booths of my old ward (Keshav Puram) remained as it is, while 14 went to Ashok Vihar-I. I have been staying in Ashok Vihar for 40 years and people know me very well. The remaining 20 booths are from the neighbouring clusters, which were never visited by members of opposition parties in the past.”
In Dwarka B, a reserved ward for women, the fight is between BJP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat and AAP’s Sudha Sinha.
Former mayor in the erstwhile south corporation, Sehrawat won the poll with the highest margin (9,866 votes) in 2017. She served as Leader of the House and was considered a prominent councillor. Her opponent, Sinha, is president of Federation of Cooperative Group Housing Societies, Dwarka and constantly highlighted issues with the authorities and political functionaries.
“Being a representative of a residents’ body for years, I’m aware of the challenges people face in getting any work done and how politicians should work to satisfy them all. I’m sure people will show confidence in me and help me win the election,” said Sinha.
Sehrawat, however, emphasised that the ward has two villages, five unauthorised colonies, in addition to 186 group housing societies. “Residents of each of these areas are pretty aware about efforts undertaken by me,” she added.
In Mayur Vihar-II, BJP’s Bipin Bihari will be facing AAP’s Devender Chaudhary. While Bihari served as a former mayor and member of committees, Chaudhary moved to AAP from BJP in March 2022. He had served as a councillor for two terms. “I was earlier mayor from Patparganj, but it has been reserved for women,” said Bihari.
In Vinod Nagar, BJP’s Ravi Negi will face a challenge from AAP’s Kuldeep Bhandari. In the 2020 assembly elections, Negi gave a tough fight to deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and lost the election with a close gap of 3,207 votes. In 2017, Negi couldn’t contest the municipal election from the same ward as his nomination papers were rejected.
Former Congress member Kuldeep Bhandari, who joined AAP this year, fought the election from the same ward in 2017. But he lost to AAP’s Geeta Rawat. After the anti-corruption branch arrested Rawat on corruption charges, the party gave the ticket to Bhandari.
In Daryaganj ward, former mayor, Leader of Opposition and senior Congress functionary Farhad Suri has been nominated by Congress again against BJP’s Lalit Bhambri. In 2017, Suri’s niece, Yasmin Kidwai, contested the election after the seat was reserved for women and won by a narrow margin of 59 votes. Bhambri’s wife, Meeta, stood second and got 7,500 votes.
In Sriniwaspuri ward, former BJP councillor and zonal chairman Rajpal Singh will face AAP’s Indu Verma. Verma was a two-time councillor from Congress (2002-2007 and 2007-2012) and joined AAP in 2021. She also held various positions during her tenure, including as the zonal chairman.
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