BJP declares four sitting MPs as its candidates from Delhi, names on three seats yet to be announced

The BJP Sunday released list of five candidates, renominating four of its sitting MPs, including Union minister Harsh Vardhan.

Names for the three remaining seats are expected to be announced by Monday.

The party has again nominated Vardhan and BJP state unit president Manoj Tiwari from Chandni Chowk and North East Delhi seats respectively.

Vardhan (64), an MBBS from GSVM medical college, Kanpur, had defeated AAP's Ashutosh in the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Chandni Chowk by a margin of 1,36,320 votes. He has won the Krishna Nagar Assembly constituency five times consecutively since 1993.

In 2014, Bhojpuri singer and actor Tiwari had won from North East Delhi, which has sizeable Purvanchali and Muslim voters, by defeating AAP's Anand Kumar by 1,44,084 votes.

Tiwari had unsuccessfully contested against current UP Chief Minister Yogi Aditya Nath from Gorakhpur as a Samajwadi Party candidate in the 2009 Lok Sabha election.

Former Delhi chief minister Saheb Singh Verma's son Parvesh Verma has been fielded from West Delhi and Ramesh Bidhuri from South Delhi.

In 2014, 41-year-old Verma had won the seat polling votes more than AAP and Congress candidates together. He had defeated AAP's Jarnail Singh by 2,68,586 votes in 2014.

The BJP is yet to declare candidates for North West Delhi, New Delhi and East Delhi seats.

"The names of sitting MPs are under consideration from the seats. However, the party may spring surprise by fielding new faces on these seats such as former cricketer Gautam Gambhir from New Delhi seat currently held by Meenakshi Lekhi," a senior BJP leader said.

Vardhan, Tiwari, and Verma will submit nomination papers on Monday. Bidhuri will file his nomination papers on Tuesday, the party said.

Bidhuri, 57, a law graduate had won from South Delhi in 2014, defeating AAP's Devendra Sherwat by 1,07,000 votes.

Of the three main parties in Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party has declared names for all seven seats while the Congress is yet to announce its candidates. Both the parties were engaged in hectic parleys on a pre-poll tie-up to avoid division of votes. However, the talks have not materialised yet.

BJP sources said the party was watching development on an alliance between the AAP and the Congress before announcing its candidates. However, chances of a tie-up between the AAP and the Congress diminishing further and less time for nomination has caused the party to declare candidates on four seats, they said.

The AAP has been seeking an alliance with the Congress extending to Haryana along with Delhi, but the Congress has made clear that it will not have a tie-up anywhere other than the national capital.

The nomination process ends on April 23. All the seats in Delhi will vote on May 12.

On Monday, six of AAP's candidates Atishi (East Delhi), Dilip Pandey (North East Delhi), Guggan Singh (North West Delhi), Raghav Chadha (South Delhi), Brijesh Goyal (New Delhi) and Pankaj Gupta (Chandni Chowk) -- will file their nominations, the party said.

AAP's West Delhi candidate Balbir Singh Jakhar had filed his nomination papers on Thursday.