MCD polls: Rush of aspirants forces Cong to extend deadline

Scores of ticket aspirants for the MCD polls today turned up to submit their applications at the Delhi Congress office here, prompting the party to extend the last date for the same till February 19.
Stating that the response was "unprecedented", Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said the last date for submitting applications was extended to February 19.
"It is an unprecedented response from party workers. We have taken a lead as compared to the other parties and are very much hopeful of victory in the MCD polls," he added.
The Delhi Congress office at Rajiv Bhawan on DDU Marg wore a festive look as hundreds of party activists thronged it to submit their applications and resumes in pen drives today which was the last date for the same.

The glass panes of the control room at the party office were shattered in the melee and even the traffic outside was disrupted, said senior Delhi Congress leader Chatar Singh.
Buoyed by its success in the May 2016 MCD by-polls, where it managed to win five of the 13 wards, Delhi Congress is hopeful of winning the elections to the three municipal corporations scheduled in April.

The party has already started preparing for the polls earnestly as compared to its rivals AAP and BJP.
Already, thousands of applications have been submitted by the ticket aspirants and more were "pouring" in, Singh said.

Congress was handed out an ignominious defeat in the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls, in which it drew a blank.
Maken has been at the forefront of a flurry of activities, including special campaigns, district conventions, protests -- with an eye on the municipal elections for 272 wards, divided between three municipal corporations which are being ruled by the BJP for the last one decade.
Congress has decided to select the candidates for the polls based on the feedback of booth-level workers. The ticket aspirants have been directed to furnish phone numbers of party workers from each polling booth.
The booth-level workers' feedback will be taken at the party's control room. The candidates will be selected after evaluating the feedback from the grassroot-level workers.