AAP dares BJP to face Pathak in Rajinder Nagar bypoll
The Hindu
BJP says ruling party is cheating voters by fielding imported candidate; five Cong. leaders join AAP
The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday declared its MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak as the party candidate for the upcoming Rajinder Nagar bypoll and challenged Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta to not run away from the contest against Mr. Pathak.
The Rajinder Nagar Assembly seat, which fell vacant after AAP legislator Raghav Chadha was sent to the Rajya Sabha, goes to the polls on June 23. According to the schedule released by the Election Commission of India, the notification of the by-election will be issued on May 30 and the counting of votes will be done on June 26. The last date to file nominations is June 6.
The Rajinder Nagar constituency has emerged as the latest battleground between AAP — whose national ambitions received a fillip after its political conquest of Punjab — and the BJP, which is yet to declare its candidate for the seat.
The BJP, which has been trying to make inroads into the Assembly constituency since it was vacated in March, had a significant meeting regarding the bypoll here on Saturday. It also held discussions with party workers at a “poll khol” programme, aimed at exposing the “inefficiencies of the AAP government in Delhi”, earlier in the day.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh disclosed Mr. Pathak’s name during a press conference at the party headquarters. He said that an official announcement of his candidature will come from the party. “Durgesh Pathak is ready for a democratic election in Rajinder Nagar. You [BJP] must come forward and face him,” Mr. Singh said.
He said the BJP had grown so afraid of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s “progress and work-oriented politics”, that it first avoided the MCD elections and is now running away from bypoll to an Assembly constituency.
“Why are you scared of failure? I challenge Adesh Gupta to contest the by-election from Rajindar Nagar. Do more than spending all day shouting out false allegations,” Mr. Singh said. He alleged that Mr. Gupta and BJP leader Tajinder Bagga have run away from fighting the election in Rajinder Nagar.
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