BJP To Drop All Sitting Councillors For Delhi Civic Polls, Will Pick Young Faces

New Delhi: Ahead of its attempt to seek a third consecutive term at Delhi's Municipal elections, the BJP has decided to start with a clean slate. All its candidates, the party has announced, will be fresh -- all sitting legislators are being dropped. The election to the 272 seats in three civic bodies of Delhi will be held on April 22.

"We have decided that we will bring new faces and young talent in this MCD elections," Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari told reporters today.  "Even family members of the councillors and party leaders will not be given tickets... We are preparing a new army for next 10 years. We want 'Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas' in Delhi."

The BJP's move is seen as a move to pre-empt charges of corruption from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, for whom these elections are crucial. The party, which had been trying to expand its footprint nationally, had failed to open account in Goa and came a poor second in Punjab in the recently held assembly elections.

The BJP, which had a landslide victory in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and is set to form governments Manipur and Goa despite coming second to Congress, controls all three civic bodies in Delhi.  Its high octane performance in face of AAP and Congress attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonitisation, is expected to work in its favour in Delhi.

In Mumbai, the BJP, under Devendra Fadnavis, has shaken the entrenched two-decade control of Shiv Sena in the closely fought elections to the richest municipal body in the country. The election - in which the two parties contested separately, failed to throw up a conclusive result. The BJP came a close second.

Mr Tiwari, a Bhojpuri actor-turned-politician, attacked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying the verdicts at Punjab and Goa have "shown AAP the mirror and it will face a similar situation in Delhi."

The BJP has 153 councillors in the three civic bodies of Delhi - the North Delhi Municipal Corporation or NDMC, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation or SDMC and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation or EDMC. Altogether, there are 272 seats.