 "Ajit Pawar to lead NCP in Delhi polls, eyes national party status revival")
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar has announced plans to contest the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections, aiming to restore the party’s national status following its sweeping victory in the Maharashtra Assembly polls. During a felicitation event at the NCP office in Delhi on Thursday, Pawar made the announcement while also dismissing Opposition allegations of electoral malpractice.
Outlining his vision for the party’s resurgence, Pawar said that there is a need for renewed efforts to secure success, referring to the NCP’s loss of national status in April last year. He also revealed plans for a national convention in Delhi, underscoring the party’s strategy to expand its influence beyond its Maharashtra stronghold.
Pawar further addressed rumours of internal discord within the Mahayuti alliance. “We are united. There are no differences,” he said, adding that alliance leaders were set to discuss power-sharing agreements later that day. The Mahayuti alliance, which includes the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP, achieved a historic victory in Maharashtra, winning 235 seats and surpassing the Congress's record of 222 seats in 1972.
On the issue of electronic voting machines (EVMs), Pawar rejected the Opposition’s claims of tampering as ‘unfounded’. He argued that opposition parties only questioned EVM reliability when results did not favour them, highlighting instances where the same machines facilitated their victories in Punjab, Karnataka, and West Bengal.
He further dismissed calls to revert to ballot paper voting, saying that EVMs have consistently demonstrated their reliability in various elections.
Delhi elections: AAP names 11 candidates in first list
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday announced its first list of 11 candidates for the Delhi Assembly elections set for February 2025. The list includes six leaders who recently joined from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, while three sitting MLAs have been dropped.
The candidates were finalised during a Political Affairs Committee meeting chaired by AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal.
Here is a list of AAP candidates:
1. Anil Jha (Kirari seat)
2. Brahm Singh Tanwar (Chhatarpur)
3. B B Tyagi (Laxmi Nagar)
4. Chaudhry Zubair Ahmad (Seelampur)
5. Vir Singh Dhingan (Seemapuri)
6. Deepak Singla (Vishwas Nagar)
7. Sarita Singh (Rohtas Nagar)
8. Gaurav Sharma (Ghonda)
9. Ram Singh Netaji (Badarpur)
10. Manoj Tyagi (Karawal Nagar)
11. Sumesh Shokeen (Matiala)