With Assembly election fast approaching, senior leaders of the Congress and BJP are holding meetings on ticket distribution. Sources say both parties are worried about those MLAs who won last elections with thin margins.
The fate of six Congress MLAs and five BJP MLAs, whose victory margin was not enough, will be decided soon. Sources in both parties claim that the there will be no hesitation in reshuffling tickets, but some senior MLAs can create problems.
Congress MLA from Rajouri Garden, Dayanand Chandila, was one of the most lucky candidates in last Assembly elections as he won by mere 546 votes. Another young Congress MLA Anil Kumar won from Patparganj constituency by 663 votes against the strong BJP candidate Nakul Bhardwaj. Congress MLA from Narela constituency, Jaswant Singh had also won by just 835 votes. Hasan Ahmad, Congress MLA from Mustafabad, won by 979 votes.
Delhi Assembly Speaker and one of Congress’ strong Jat leaders, Yoganand Shastri too had a close fight as he won the Mehrauli seat by mere 1,108 votes. Another Congress MLA Anil Bhardwaj won from Tri Nagar constituency by 1,969 votes.
Sources say the Congress party think tank is conducting internal surveys and research to ascertain the wining capability of these candidates.
Similarly in BJP, its chief whip Saheb Singh Chauhan won the Ghonda constituency by 580 votes. BJP’s Trilokpuri MLA Sunil Vaidya defeated his rival by 1,634 votes while its MLA from Bijwasan constituency Satyaprakash Rana won by a difference of only 2,005 votes. S.C.L. Gupta, BJP MLA from Sangam Vihar, had defeated former Delhi police commissioner Amod Kanth by 3,589 votes while Shakurbasti MLA Shyam Lal Garg defeated Congress’ S.C. Vats by 4,000 votes. BSP MLA from Gokalpuri Chaudhary Surender too had a close shave as he won by 3.057 votes in last elections.