No kidding: Children bring out poll wishlist with Mahima Chaudhary and Punjabi singer Jasbir Jassi

With just a few days left for the municipal elections, children have also jumped on to the election bandwagon. They have come up with a wish list for winning candidates. Apart from civic issues, the kids want candidates to focus on the rights of children as well. On Tuesday, they came up 

with a slogan -- 'Jo bachon ki baat karega, woh MCD par raaj karega' (Those who raise children's issues will rule MCD). The children will meet all contesting candidates and ask them to fight for child rights.

"As children are not allowed to cast votes; councillors tend to ignore their rights and well-being. Now, these children will ask residents to vote for only those candidates who care for them," said Kailash Satyarthi, founder of NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan.

The 'child-friendly Delhi campaign' organised by Bachpan Bachao Andolan focuses on protection, care, and education of all children. A manifesto has also been prepared, enlisting the demands of children from varied backgrounds.

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Delhi blast accused contests MCD polls

New Delhi: After the 2012 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the Batla House encounter seems to have emerged as a heated issue in Delhi's municipal corporation elections. Zia-ur-Rehman, an accused in the 2008 Delhi serial blasts, has entered the fray to contest MCD elections as an independent candidate from Ward No. 205 to make his "call for justice stronger and heard" and to prove his "innocence."

The security agencies call him an Indian Mujahideen operative, but the Muslim community believes he is "falsely implicated in terror cases."

Twenty-two-year-old Zia, a student of Jamia Millia Islamia, was arrested after the gunbattle in Batla House that took place in the aftermath of serial blasts in the national capital in 2008. He is currently lodged in Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad and perhaps the only candidate in the April 15 municipal election to contest from prison. He was allowed by a local court to forward his nomination for forthcoming MCD polls through Ahmedabad's Sabarmati Jail superintendent.

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MCD polls: Of penniless candidates, senior citizens

New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI) Rajani Chouhan, a BSP candidate for the Delhi municipal polls, has only Rs 40 in her hand while one of the youngest contestants Mamta Kumari is penniless. 

These interesting figures form part of the affidavits of candidates filing nomination for the April 15 polls for the three municipal bodies in the capital. Chouhan, the BSP candidate in Rajinder Nagar, and her husband have movable property worth Rs 11.5 lakh but curiously she has just Rs 40 in her hand and her husband Rs 35, according to her affidavit. The couple has given Rs three lakh as loan while both have shown an annual income of Rs 4.31 lakh this fiscal. Another candidate, Mamta Kumari, an Independent contesting from Narela, does not have a single rupee in her hand though she has Rs 1,000 in bank. The contestant has completed her BEd course. Similar is the case of a candidate of Indian Democratic Party in west Delhi's Raja Garden, Sonu Suri, who does not have a single penny with her. Suri also does not own any movable or immovable property in her name. 

 

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Worth Rs 95 cr Mr and Mrs Sirsa try their fortune in MCD polls as wealthiest candidates

He has a taste for speed and luxury cars but Manjinder Singh Sirsa’s tryst with politics began with a morning walk a few years ago.

The experience of hopping over potholes that dotted the roads around his West Punjabi Bagh home lingered on till many days, Sirsa says.

 

“In the community park, I also heard people talking about the sorry state of development in the area. That day I decided to contest elections. No one can find a potholed road in my ward now,” Sirsa says.

 

Punjabi Bagh, the ward that Sirsa represented so far, has been reserved for women this time, and his wife Satwinder Kaur Sirsa is now contesting next month’s municipal elections from here on a BJP ticket backed by the Shiromani Akali Dal.

 

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Sehwags sister will bat for Cong in MCD polls

Cricketer Virender Sehwag’s sister Anju Mehrwal will contest the MCD polls as a Congress candidate from Dakshinpuri Extension, a ward reserved for women.

The party decision, taken after several revisions of its tickets list, came at the cost of Manju Mehrwal, who will now contest as an independent against Anju.

Manju’s secretary Chandrabhan claimed that earlier she had been allotted the party ticket from the ward, but the last-minute change was effected by the party high command as Anju is the sister of a “famous cricketer”.

“Manju was given the letter by the Congress to contest elections from Dakshinpuri Extension on Monday at 2 pm. Anju, too, was given a similar letter. The names were changed in the second list issued by the party. This has been done because she is the sister of Virender Sehwag. Manju has been a party worker, while Anju has never been associated  with the party in anyway. We will not withdraw our nomination,’’ said Chandrabhan.

Sehwag is expected to help briefly during his sister’s campaign.

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MCD election rush slows down Delhi traffic

Traffic in several parts of the Capital was badly disrupted for several hours on Monday as it was the last day of filing nominations for the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections. A series of demonstrations at Jantar Mantar also brought traffic to a standstill in Central Delhi in the afternoon.

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BJP releases its candidates list for MCD polls on last day

Bhartiya Janta Party released its  list of candidates for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Elections 2012 on the last day for filing nominations. The Poll is scheduled on April 15 2012 (Sunday).

The complete first list of of BJP candidates is given below. For the remaining wards, we will update this list later.

>> Click here to view list of candidates