Haryana Deputy Chief Minister and Jannayak Janta Party chief Dushyant Chautala on Tuesday announced that his party will not contest the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections, NDTV reported. The party had helped the Bharatiya Janata Party form a government in Haryana last year.
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Chautala said the party would not field candidates because of a problem with its desired election symbol. In a tweet, the JJP said: “We had requested Election Commission to give key or slippers as symbol and these were given to another organisation. In such a situation, JJP has decided not to contest.”
Chautala also spoke about the Citizenship Act, saying whoever has read the new law would not believe that citizenship was being taken away from any individual.
The announcement came after another ally of the BJP – Shiromani Akali Dal – on Monday said that it will not contest the Delhi elections due to differences with the party over the amended citizenship law.
The BJP has named candidates for 67 of the 70 Assembly seats in Delhi, and has decided to leave two seats for the Janata Dal (United) and one for the Lok Janshakti Party.
Both the Akali Dal and JD(U) had voted in favour of the Citizenship Amendment Act in Parliament last month, but differences have emerged since then.
The polls for all 70 seats in Delhi will be held on February 8, and the results will be announced on February 11.
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