Campaigning picks up for Bawana bypoll

New Delhi: As Delhi races to witness yet another political battle for the Bawana Assembly seat, the candidates in fray have stepped up the campaigning in the area. The Bawana seat is one of the 12 reserved Assembly constituencies in the national capital. It fell vacant after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator, Ved Prakash, quit and joined the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in March. Struck by a spate of losses, including the recent municipal polls in the city, the AAP is leaving no stone unturned to win the upcoming bypoll on August 23. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal campaigned for his candidate Ramchandra in the Assembly constituency to galvanise support on Friday. AAP is banking on its achievements in the rural areas to win the confidence of voters and thus secure a win.

AAP, which had stormed to power in Delhi with 67 seats, now has 65 legislators in the 70 member Assembly. The rest four are from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The election holds significance as it comes close on the heels of the municipal elections in which the BJP emerged victorious and AAP a distant second. It was the second electoral debacle for AAP within a month as it also badly lost the Rajouri Garden Assembly by-election just ahead of the civic polls.

AAP’s candidate, Mr Ramchandra, is a former Bahujan Samaj Party candidate. Congress, however, is eyeing the seat by fielding its three-time MLA, Surender Kumar, from the constituency. The grand old party does not have any legislator in the Delhi Assembly at present. 

Over 2.94 lakh electors are eligible to exercise their franchise in the upcoming Bawana Assembly bypoll in Delhi in which EVMs equipped with voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) would be used at all polling stations. The counting for the election will be held on August 28. “Out of the 2,94,589 electors, 4,102 fall in the age group of 18-19 years,” the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi said.