BJP gets its sitting MPs surveyed

NEW DELHI: With its own ticket distribution getting delayed due to uncertainty over a possible alliance between Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, Bharatiya Janata Party has got fresh surveys done of its sitting MPs in seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi.
Sources said four different agencies had been roped in to assess the performance of the MPs, their popularity, anti-incumbency against them and the dynamics of the each constituency.
“The feedback of the survey will play an important role in deciding the candidates. There is a wind of change. The possibility of replacing the sitting MPs with new faces is very high,” said a senior BJP leader, requesting anonymity.
He added that the party had replaced almost two-third of its MPs across the country, including Chhattisgarh where it has fielded new faces on all 10 seats it had won in 2014. “We may see something similar happening in Delhi as well,” the leader said. In 2014, BJP had won all seven seats by a big margin.
While the election process in Delhi is starting on April 16 with the Election Commission issuing a notification to the effect, the last date for filing nominations is April 23 and the voting will be on May 12.
BJP vice-president and in charge for Delhi, Shyam Jaju, however, rubbished the reports that the ticket distribution had anything to do with Congress-AAP alliance. He said there was “absolutely no delay” in the announcement of the candidates and everything was going “as per plan”. “We will declare the candidates at the right time,” he said, adding that, “We are a cadre-based party and our preparations are on at the ground level.”
According to senior party leaders, a list of 21 probable candidates, with a panel of three names for each seat, has already been sent to the party leadership for the final decision.