New Delhi, Mar 7(PTI) The Delhi BJP has stepped up preparations for the municipal corporation elections to be held in April and has started forming poll-related committees, party leaders said on Monday.
So far, the party has formed committees for campaigning, identification of issues to be raised during campaigning and for screening of outsiders from opposition parties wishing to join the BJP ahead of the civic body polls, a senior Delhi BJP leader said.
“The committees are being formed as the elections for the three municipal corporations could be announced anytime now. However, a formal announcement of these committees and their members is yet to be made,” he said.
Party MLA and former president of Delhi BJP Vijender Gupta will head the campaign committee. Delhi BJP vice-president Ashok Goel and Vishnu Mittal will be members of the committee, leaders of the party said.
Former Union minister Vijay Goel is heading the screening committee, and senior Delhi BJP leader Arti Mehra will be its member, they added.
Goel was on Monday present in a programme at the Delhi BJP office on the occasion of some AAP leaders, including the party’s OBC Morcha vice-president Krishan Arya and another leader and Urdu Academy member Naushad, joining the fold, said a Delhi BJP statement.
The committee for identifying issues to be raised by the BJP during campaigning for the municipal corporation elections will be headed by Delhi unit vice-president Rajiv Babbar. Harish Khurana, Delhi BJP media cell head, and party spokesperson Neetu Dabas will be its members, said party leaders.
There are 104 wards each in the North and the South Delhi Municipal Corporations. The East Delhi Municipal Corporation has 64 wards. Half of the wards are reserved for women candidates. There are wards reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates as well.
In the last MCD polls in Delhi in 2017, the BJP had registered an impressive victory, returning to power in the three corporations by winning 181 of the 272 wards.
Its closest rival, the AAP, managed to win only 49 wards, while the Congress bagged 31 wards.
This time around, the ruling AAP in Delhi is making an all-out effort to upstage the BJP, which is in power in the municipal corporations since 2007.
AAP leaders have been attacking the BJP regularly since the past many months, alleging corruption and mismanagement in the civic bodies ruled by it.
The BJP has retaliated, targeting the AAP on a range of issues, including governance and the new excise policy of the Kejriwal government. PTI VIT IJT
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