New Delhi, Mar 16 (IANS): The country will go to the polls in seven phases from April 19-June 1 with voting for Delhi's 7 seats on May 25 in the sixth phase, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced here on Saturday.
The seven parliamentary constituencies in the national capital -- Chandni Chowk, North East Delhi, East Delhi, New Delhi, North West Delhi, West Delhi, and South Delhi, will witness the electoral exercise simultaneously.
Delhi has a total of 1.47 crore electors, and among them, 67.5 lakh are women and 80.09 lakh are male.
The current Lok Sabha's term is set to expire on June 16.
The BJP in its second list has named two fresh faces, Harsh Malhotra and Yogendra Chandolia, as candidates from East and North West Delhi respectively.
Malhotra, nominated as the BJP candidate for the East Delhi parliamentary constituency on Wednesday, is a former Mayor of the erstwhile East Delhi Municipal Corporation.
Similarly, Chandolia, who has secured the ticket for Northwest Delhi, is a former Mayor of the erstwhile North Delhi Municipal Corporation
With the announcement, the BJP aims to rejuvenate its campaign strategy and introduce new leadership to represent the national capital in Parliament.
In the last two Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital, underscoring the party's dominance in the region.
Earlier on March 3, the BJP revealed the names of five candidates from Delhi.
The first list included the names of Bansuri Swaraj, Praveen Khandelwal, Manoj Tiwari, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, and Kamaljeet Sehrawat.
Out of the seven candidates named, only Manoj Tiwari has secured a renomination, signalling a significant overhaul in the party's candidate selection process.
Sitting East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir has already announced his decision not to contest the upcoming elections.
The sitting Delhi MPs who failed to clinch party tickets this time are Parvesh Verma, Ramesh Bidhuri, Meenakshi Lekhi, Hans Raj Hans, and Harsh Vardhan.
Moreover, there is an alliance in Delhi between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress. The AAP is contesting on four seats, and the Congress on three.
The AAP has announced the names of its candidates – Kuldeep Kumar to contest from East Delhi, Somnath Bharti from New Delhi. Sahiram Pehelwan from South Delhi, while Mahabal Mishra will represent AAP in West Delhi.