Assembly elections: Turncoats dominate BJP's first list of 29 candidates
The BJP released its first list of 29 candidates for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections, with a significant number of turncoats making up a substantial portion of the party’s picks. A total of eight candidates, or approximately 27.59 per cent, have switched allegiances from the AAP and the Congress to join the BJP ahead of the February polls.
Among the high-profile turncoats is Kailash Gahlot, a former AAP minister who represented the Najafgarh constituency in Delhi. Gahlot, who joined the BJP in November 2024, has been fielded to contest from Bijwasan, a shift from his previous turf.
Despite the change in constituency, Bijwasan has a similar Jat demographic to Najafgarh, potentially making it easier for Gahlot to gain support. During his tenure in the Delhi government, Gahlot held multiple key portfolios, including transport, revenue, IT, law and the environment. His defection from the AAP was attributed to his dissatisfaction with the party’s departure from its core values.
Another prominent defector is Arvinder Singh Lovely, former Delhi Congress president, who joined the BJP in May 2024 just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP has replaced the incumbent Gandhi Nagar MLA Anil Bajpayee with Lovely, who has previously served as the Delhi’s Minister for Urban Development, Revenue, Education, Transport and Tourism in the Sheila Dikshit government.
In Mangolpuri (SC), Rajkumar Chauhan, a four-time Congress MLA, has been fielded by the BJP. Chauhan, who joined the BJP alongside Lovely in 2024, previously served as the Minister for Education and Social Welfare and held multiple portfolios in the Delhi government. He was defeated by AAP’s Rakhi Birlan in the 2013 assembly elections after holding the seat for 20 years.
Another former AAP minister, Raaj Kumar Anand, has been nominated by the BJP to contest from Patel Nagar (SC). Anand, who joined the BJP in July 2024, served as an AAP MLA and held important Cabinet positions, including Social Welfare, SC & ST Welfare, and Registrar of Cooperative Societies.
In Jangpura, the BJP has fielded Tarvinder Singh Marwah, a former Congress leader, against AAP’s Manish Sisodia. Marwah, who joined the BJP in 2022, has served as an MLA in the Delhi Legislative Assembly for three terms and will now take on the former Education Minister in a high-stake battle.
Kartar Singh Tanwar, another former AAP MLA, has been given the BJP ticket to contest from Chhatarpur. Tanwar, who joined the party in July 2024, previously represented Chhatarpur twice as an AAP MLA.
Narayan Dutt Sharma, who switched from AAP to the BJP in March 2024, has been fielded from Badarpur. Sharma previously represented the constituency in 2015. He has been given the ticket in place of South Delhi MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, against whom Sharma lost in the 2013 and 2020 Delhi polls.
Kumari Rinku, a former Congress leader and two-time councillor in the East Municipal Corporation, joined the BJP in February 2022 just ahead of the MCD elections. She has now been fielded from Seemapuri (SC).
