New Delhi, Nov 05: BJP`s chief ministerial candidate in Delhi Madan Lal Khurana will contest from his traditional Moti Nagar constituency as the party fielded MP Kirti Azad`s wife Poonam from the Gole Market seat, now held by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Releasing the first list of 35 candidates, the party also announced that four seats have been given to its ally Akali Dal in the elections to the 70 member house.
Kirti Azad had lost to Dikshit in the 1998 elections.
The list, which was finalised at the central election committee meeting held at Prime Minister`s residence, includes 13 of the 14 sitting MLAs. Avinash Sahani, sitting legislator from Moti Nagar, has rested to enable Khurana, MP from Delhi Sadar, to contest from the seat.
Releasing the list in the presence of Khurana and other Delhi unit leaders Sahib Singh Verma and Jagdish Mukhi, BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan said the candidates were selected after unanimous recommendation from the state unit.
The list includes four women and five scheduled caste members, he said.
The party kept some seats open to see whom the ruling Congress fields there, Khurana said.
The second list will be announced before Friday, he said.
The list announced today includes three former ministers -- Jagdish Mukhi, who is also the leader of the opposition in the assembly, H S Balli and Harsh Vardhan -- besides Khurana.
All of them have been fielded from their previous constituencies -- Mukhi from Janakpuri, Balli from Hari Nagar and Vardhan from Krishna Nagar.
Vice chairman of New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and MLA Ram Bhaj has also been fielded from his previous Sarojini Nagar constituency.
Other sitting MLAs nominated are Nand Kishore Garg (Trinagar), Ravinder Bansal (Shalimar Bagh), Jai Bhagwan Aggarwal (Badli), Brahm Singh (Mehrauli), Naresh Gaud (Babarpur), Sahib Singh Chouhan (Yamuna Vihar), Mohan Singh Bisht (Karaval Nagar) and Puran Chand Yogi (Rajinder Nagar).
The women candidates besides Poonam are Poornima Sethi from Kalkaji, Arti Mehra from Hauz Khas and Dhanvanti Chandela from Vishnu Garden. Bureau Report