Amit Shah to correct BJP's 'property agent' image in Delhi

Party sources sayi that the ticket distribution exercise will cut through usual calculations

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is on the lookout for candidates who look like a part of the future and not of the past. So, a 'son of the soil' image or being an influential property dealer in an area, or worse being the son of a veteran politician, are qualifications unlikely to suffice to get a BJP ticket for the Delhi Assembly polls.

Party sources said the ticket distribution exercise, now being presided over by BJP President Amit Shah, will cut through usual calculations that have marred ticket selection processes of the past, with the result that the party hasn't won a majority in the Delhi Assembly in over two decades.

The BJP in Delhi has for long struggled with an image of being a party of property agents, while the Congress under Sheila Dikshit, and later Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came across as political parties contemporary in their outlook and more in step with the aspirations of the middle and poorer classes of Delhi. The BJP, with Shah at the helm of ticket distribution, plans to correct this image.

Several candidates, who contested the 2013 Assembly elections, including sons of senior politicians, are unlikely to find a spot in the BJP's list of candidates. The first list is set to be released later this week. The last date of filing nominations is January 21 for the elections scheduled for February 7.

Shah, party sources said, was unlikely to pay heed to usual local connections, while selecting party candidates. BJP leaders and workers have already been asked to project a more modern appearance in the way they connect with the youth, and instructed to speak and dress in a manner that differentiates them from the usual "traditional netaji or a property dealer".

The party has also done an intensive study of the 11,763 polling booths in Delhi, identifying the 1,000 odd booths where it lost by less than a couple of hundred votes. It is giving special attention to seven seats where it lost by less than 2,000 votes in the last Assembly elections.

The assessment in the party is that the Narendra Modi rally at Ramlila Ground on Saturday was resounding success, transforming a much divided party into a battle ready machine.