Three women among 12 people who start poll ride

NEW DELHI:

Three

lawyers and a veteran of two elections were among the 12

people

who filed their nominations for the Lok Sabha polls in the city. The electoral process began on Tuesday with the opening of nomination filing for the polls that will take place in the capital on May 12. The office of Delhi’s chief electoral officer (CEO) said that among the 12 who filed their nominations on the first day were three

women

.

While 10 candidates belonged to unrecognised parties, two independent candidates also submitted their papers. “No candidate from the national or state party filed their papers on Tuesday,” said a CEO official. “While three nominations each were filed for the New Delhi and East Delhi seats, there were two applications each for West Delhi and Chandni Chowk and one for East and South Delhi constituencies. No nomination was filed for North West Delhi reserved constituency.”

Among those who filed the nominations was Manager Chaurasiya of Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), who contested the 2009

Lok Sabha election

from North East Delhi and the 2013 assembly polls from Burari. “People are disappointed with both Congress and BJP. We are the only alternative,” Chaurasiya declared.

The last date for filing nominations is April 23. Scrutiny of the nomination papers will take place on April 24. The candidates can withdraw their nominations by April 26. Around 1.4 crore Delhiites are registered to cast their votes this year.

In the 2009 general elections, 160 candidates, including 18 women, had fought for the seven seats, while 150 candidates, including 13 women, had tried their luck in 2014. BJP had swept all seven seats in 2014, with Aam Aadmi Party, contesting the Lok Sabha polls for the first time, ending up second in all the constituencies.

This year, BJP is yet to declare its candidates for the Delhi seats. Though AAP has already announced the names of its seven nominees, it is waiting for the final outcome of its talks on a seat-sharing alliance with Congress before the party contestant file their nominations. “Our candidates will begin submitting their nomination papers from April 18,” a senior AAP leader said on Tuesday.

Congress too appeared to have finalised its list of candidates for the city’s seven seats, but senior party leaders said their names would be announced only after the talks with AAP on an alliance are completed.