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Day of nominations; Sheila, Vardhan among 300
| Chief Minister seeks another term for Congress; BJP says people of Delhi want a change |
It’s ‘V’ all the way: Delhi Finance Minister A.K. Walia, State BJP chief Harsh Vardhan and Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely on the way to file nominations for Laxmi Nagar, Krishna Nagar and Gandhi Nagar constituencies respectively on Monday.
Face to face: Anil Chaudhary of the Congress and Nakul Bhardwaj of the BJP who are pitted against each other in Patparganj constituency in East Delhi on the way to file their nominations on Monday; Also on the way to file papers are Prahlad Singh Sahni of the Congress and Praveen Khandelwal of the BJP for the prestigious Chandni Chowk seat.
NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan were among nearly 300 candidates who filed nomination papers for the Assembly elections on Monday, a day before the deadline expires.
It was with much fanfare that Ms. Dikshit travelled from her 3 Motilal Nehru Marg residence to Jamnagar House to file her papers. She was accompanied by her family members. A large number of party workers and leaders walked alongside her car in a procession that reached the Returning Officer’s office around 11-30 a.m.
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president J. P. Agarwal was among the numerous party leaders who accompanied Ms. Dikshit, who is seeking a record third term for the Congress in Delhi. She is fighting the election this time round from New Delhi.
Talking to media persons, Ms. Dikshit declared that her party would strive to make Delhi a truly world-class city. “To ensure that the process of overall development of the city continues unabated, people should elect the Congress for the third consecutive time,” she said, adding that her party always stood for the welfare of the poor and the downtrodden. She also referred to the construction of flyovers, subways and foot over-bridges during the past 10 years.
“We do not only make promises but also fulfil them and want to see a smile on the face of every citizen of the city,” Ms. Dikshit asserted.
Ms. Dikshit has declared movable and immovable assets of over Rs.1.3 crore. She does not own a car but has a house at Nizamuddin in South Delhi that has a market value of Rs.63 lakh. Also, the Chief Minister has Rs.30,000 in cash and deposits worth Rs.617,248 in banks, financial institutions and non-banking financial companies.
The Chief Minister also has investments of Rs.39 lakh in various bonds, debentures and shares in public sector banks and private sector companies. Besides, she has invested over Rs.20 lakh in senior citizens’ saving schemes and other financial instruments like LIC and postal savings.
She has declared gold jewellery worth Rs.30,000 and silver articles and utensils worth Rs.167,450. She owns gemstones worth Rs.146,000. Besides, she has paid Rs.139,519 as income tax and Rs.11,904 as property tax during the current financial year.
Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan filed his nomination for the Krishna Nagar seat in the presence of party MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, former MP Lal Behari Tiwari and various unit office-bearers.
After filing his papers, Dr. Vardhan declared that “the people of Delhi want a change”. The people are “fed up with the anti-people and inefficient Congress Government and want to dislodge it,” he said, adding that since only the BJP can provide this change, people will vote it to power.
Dr. Vardhan called upon the party workers to start working with full zeal to ensure that the Congress is ousted from power. “The people have not forgotten blasts, lax law and order and remaining awake at nights for a bucket of water. They are all looking up to the BJP and it will fulfil their expectations,” he said.
Since the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate V. K. Malhotra has been issued a notice by the Election Commission because of the number of vehicles that accompanied him when he went to file his papers on Saturday, some BJP candidates were careful not to draw such attention on Monday. Thus former BJP MLA Nand Kishore Garg filed his papers from Tri Nagar after travelling to the electoral office at Old Court Building near Kashmere Gate by Delhi Metro. He was accompanied by party general secretary Vijay Goel and Municipal Councillor Mira Agarwal.
Mr. Goel was also present during the filing of papers from Chandni Chowk by BJP candidate and trade leader Praveen Khandelwal. Mr. Khandelwal’s main opponent, Prahlad Singh Sahni of the Congress too filed his papers.
From Patparganj in East Delhi, Congress candidate Anil Chaudhary and his BJP counterpart Nakul Bhardwaj too filed their papers.
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