The Republican Party of India (Athawale), part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has announced its participation in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections. The party released a list of 15 candidates for the elections.
The party has fielded candidates in several constituencies. The candidates include Laxmi from Sultanpur Mazra, Deepak Chawla from Timarpur, Virender Tiwari from Palam, Shubhi Saxena from New Delhi, Ranjeet from Patparganj, Vijay Pal Singh from Laxmi Nagar, Tajender Singh from Sangam Vihar, Manisha from Sadar Bazar, Ram Naresh Nishad from Malviya Nagar, Manjoor Ali from Tughlakabad, Harshit Tyagi from Badarpur, Sachin Gupta from Chandni Chowk, and Manoj Kashyap from Matiyara Maharal.
Earlier, speaking to the media, Athawale said, "The BJP is not giving us any seats in Delhi even though we have a significant presence there. I will be visiting Delhi tomorrow for a party meeting. We have received 30-35 applications from candidates wanting to contest in Delhi out of the 70 Assembly seats. If any of our candidates win, we will support the BJP in forming the government."
Commenting on the Opposition alliance, Athawale claimed, "There is a clear division in the INDIA bloc." He pointed out that while the AAP and Congress had an alliance during the Lok Sabha elections, they were now at odds. "The AAP has declared that it will fight alone in Delhi and Congress is also contesting independently. Although some smaller parties are supporting the AAP it won't make a significant difference. The INDIA bloc is fractured in my view," he said.
The elections for the 70-member Delhi Assembly will be held on February 5. The votes will be counted on February 8.