Congress for repoll in Bawana

New Delhi: With the civic polls around the corner, Delhi Congress demanded reelection in Bawana Assembly constituency after local Aam Aadmi Party MLA Ved Prakash went back to BJP on Monday. The Congress, which is being kept at bay by the AAP and BJP in the high-stake municipal elections in April, sought “immediate issuance of notification for ensuring elections to Assembly Constituency No. 7 (Bawana).”

DPCC chief Ajay Maken shot a letter to the state’s chief electoral officer and said Delhiites can’t be made to suffer on account of “irresponsible representatives.” “In a similar case, another AAP MLA from Rajouri Garden had also abandoned his constituents and the EC has already commenced the election process in the area,” Mr Maken said in his letter on Monday.

It may be recalled that the Rajouri Garden seat fell vacant after the sitting AAP MLA Jarnail Singh resigned to take on Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal in Lambi. The bypolls is expected to be a litmus test for the Congress and the AAP as its outcome is bound to impact the April 22 civic elections.

The BJP, along with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), had won the seat in 2013 Assembly polls. However, the SAD-BJP combine failed to retain the west Delhi seat in the last elections which was swept by the AAP.  The Rajouri Garden by-polls will be held on April 9 and its result will be announced on April 13, just before the Delhi civic polls elections on April 23.

Earlier on Monday, AAP MLA Ved Prakash had tendered his resignation to the Delhi Assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel and joined BJP, alleging that there is lack of “inner-party democracy” in AAP. “In view of the said developments, I would like to request you to kindly initiate the election process for the said Constituency, without any delay,” Mr Maken said in his letter.