NEW DELHI: While the process of distribution of tickets for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections took place relatively smoothly in the Bharatiya Janata Party, the manner in which the party would now be contesting only on 271 of the 272 seats owing to disqualification of its Mahavir Enclave candidate Sharmila Pandey has caused a lot of concern among party leaders.

"It is a matter of good fortune for the BJP that only one candidate did not pass muster or otherwise the party would have been out of contention on more seats on account of disqualification of its candidates. It is surprising that the party managers did not have covering candidates for all the seats to prevent such a situation,'' said a senior party functionary.

Stating that it is always better to be safe than sorry, the functionary said while it has been the normal practice in the past to field covering candidates, this time the party leadership did not take note of this important aspect. "What is even more critical is that such an important issue got overlooked in an election which is of utmost importance for the BJP since it is seeking to gain some ground in Delhi, where the MCD and the Assembly are in the hands of the Congress along with six of the seven Lok Sabha seats.''

Party workers insist having a covering candidate always helps.

"Ideally the second most important ticket-seeker should be asked to cover for the main candidate. This keeps the person from rebelling and also bridges the gap between the two main contenders thereby improving the atmosphere in general and the prospects of the party.''

This also assumes significance since the BJP -- that had received over 10,000 applications for tickets -- is learnt to be finding it difficult to arrange proper poll managers for the candidates. "There is a dearth of experienced workers willing to assist the party candidates. Most were in running for tickets and have decided to either oppose or not support the party candidates.''

The party is also abuzz with talk about the manner in which the candidates had to on the last day of filing of nominations contend with an unthinkable problem. On reaching the State Election Commission offices for filing their nominations, they realised that the party symbol letters issued to them only had one signature of the party president instead of the mandatory three. As a result all of them rushed back to the party office to get the forms signed again.

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