Delhi Assembly polls: AAP's Manish Sisodia files nomination from Patparganj; Nitin Tyagi and 11 other candidates also enter fray

New Delhi: Senior AAP leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, his fellow lawmaker, and eleven other candidates on Thursday filed their nominations ahead of the 8 February assembly polls, officials said. With this, the total number of nominations for the upcoming elections has gone up to 25 from 23 candidates. [caption id=“attachment_7917771” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Manish Sisodia filed his nomination from Patparganj Assembly constituency on Thursday. Twitter@msisodia[/caption] Sisodia, 47, filed the nomination from the East Delhi’s Patparganj constituency for the Delhi Assembly elections after holding a roadshow. “He filed the nomination around 2 pm and there is no dummy candidate for him,” a senior poll official told PTI. Sisodia, the sitting Patparganj MLA, said the upcoming elections in Delhi would be based on the work done by the AAP government in the last five years. Thirteen fresh nominations by as many candidates were filed in different assembly constituencies on Thursday. Besides Sisodia, Nitin Tyagi, the sitting lawmaker from Laxmi Nagar, also filed the nomination from the same seat, a senior official of the Delhi CEO Office said. Nominations for the high-stakes Delhi elections kicked off on Tuesday with poll authorities issuing the notification for the polls on the same day. On Thursday, nominations were filed in various other constituencies, including Sultanpur Majra, Mustafabad, Mehrauli, Bijwasan, and Dwarka by people belonging to small parties, including the Aapki Apni Party, Rashtriya Rashtrawadi Party, Tipu Sultan Party, National Youth Party, and five as independent candidates. Elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly promises to be a triangular contest with the Aam Aadmi Party hoping to retain power on the plank of development and the BJP and the Congress determined to put up a spirited challenge. “The notification for the Delhi election was today issued by poll authorities. Nominations today began for the upcoming Assembly polls,” a senior official had said. The counting of votes will take place on 11 February. The last date to file nomination is 21 January and the scrutiny will happen on 22 January. The last date of withdrawal of candidature is 24 January. Over 1.46 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the Delhi elections, according to the final electoral roll.