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Delhi is set for fresh Assembly elections

Source said that Delhi may go for elections as early as mid-December
New Delhi: After an eight-month deadlock, the National Capital Territory of Delhi is all set to face fresh Assembly elections.
Soon after holding consultations with the leaders of the BJP, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung said on Monday that these three parties had expressed their inability to form government and he would send a report accordingly to President Pranab Mukherjee.
A highly-placed source said that Delhi may go for elections as early as mid-December.
A senior leader of the BJP said there were chances the Delhi Assembly polls might be held in January or February next year. “The BJP would prefer to go to polls in Delhi after analysing the results of the Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand polls,” he said.
The BJP reportedly took the decision to not try to form the Delhi government at its parliamentary board meeting here on Sunday night, which among others was also attended by Delhi state unit head Satish Upadhyay.
The state party chief and Janakpuri MLA Jagdish Mukhi, who was a frontrunner for the chief ministership, met the lieutenant-governor on Monday morning and told him of the saffron outfit’s inability to form the government. The BJP and its allies are short of five MLAs to prove their majority in the 67-member Assembly.
After the BJP, it was Congress Legislative Party chief Haroon Yusuf who conveyed his party’s decision to the L-G. He said: “The Congress wants fresh elections. Under the leadership of Soniaji and Rahulji, we will put up a strong fight in elections in Delhi.”
AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal first declined to meet the L-G at 2 pm, saying he got the invitation for the meeting at 12.50 pm, and he was in no position to reschedule his prior commitments. In his letter to the L-G, Mr Kejriwal said: “I would be grateful if you could give us some time late in the evening today or anytime tomorrow. In any case, you already know our stand. In the meanwhile, I am sure you would already have had a discussion with the BJP, which is the single largest party. I would be grateful if you could tell us what is their formal stand on this issue.”
The AAP convener’s meeting was later rescheduled to 5.45 pm. Mr Kejriwal and AAP leader Manish Sisodia met the L-G and requested him to hold the elections in Delhi along with the Assemblies of Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand. Mr Sisodia said the L-G had informed them the BJP would not try to form the government in Delhi.
The notification for fresh elections will be issued after the lieutenant-governor orders the dissolution of the Delhi Assembly, which has been under suspended animation since February 2014. While a majority of the MLAs of the BJP, AAP and Congress are reportedly not in favour of fresh elections, the official stand of all three parties has been that they are ready to face elections at any time. But there is not a single party which on its own can prove its majority in the 67-member Assembly.
There is reportedly no requirement for holding the November 25 byelections to three Assembly seats, Mehrauli, Krishna Nagar and Tuglakabad, that fell vacant after three BJP MLAs quit after winning the recent Lok Sabha elections.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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