Delhi elections 2015: Over 900 candidates in fray

NEW DELHI: Around 916 candidates are in the fray for the February 7 Assembly election in Delhi and about 532 of them including BJP's chief ministerial nominee Kiran Bedi, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Congress leader Ajay Maken filed their nominations today.

Bedi will contest from BJP stronghold of Krishna Nagar while Kejriwal will seek re-election from the prestigious New Delhi constituency where he had defeated three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit by over 22,000 votes last time.

"Around 916 candidates, including Independents, have filed their nomination papers for the upcoming Assembly elections. However, we are now compiling the data to ascertain the exact number of candidates," said a senior official at the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer's office.

Of the total, around 532 candidates today filed their nomination papers, the official said, adding as many as 384 candidates had filed their nominations yesterday.

Meanwhile, the official said a total of 117 FIRs has been lodged against different political parties till January 20 for violation of the Model Code of Conduct, which came into force on January 12.

"Out of the 117 FIRs, 52 have been registered against AAP while 22 have been lodged against BJP. Twenty-six and 10 FIRs were lodged against Congress and BSP, respectively," the official said.

Till yesterday, a total 10569 persons have been booked under various sections of CrPC/Delhi Police Act, and as preventive measures 110 licensed arms were deposited, 11 unlicensed arm and 1039 cartridges were seized.