Vote for Gambhir now, appeals east Delhi MP Maheish Girri

New Delhi, April 24 (IANS) BJP's outgoing East Delhi MP Maheish Girri, who was denied ticket by the party this time around, appealed to people of his constituency to vote for his replacement, cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir, and ensure his victory.

In a video message, Girri said: "I could not get the opportunity to serve the people of East Delhi. I can understand that most of you would have felt bad."

He appealed to the voters and party workers to support the candidature of Gambhir and ensure his victory with a huge mandate.

"If we miss the opportunity of empowering the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi then the country will again go in to the hands of the robbers. And to empower the hands of Modiji, the people need to vote for the BJP," he said.

The BJP, which won all the seven seats in the national capital in 2014, has replaced two of its MPs.

The party replaced Girri with Gambhir and Delhi North West MP Udit Raj with singer turned politician Hans Raj Hans.

A day after being denied the ticket, Udit Raj switched to the Congress and accused the BJP of being anti-Dalit.

The BJP has fielded Union Minister Harsh Vardhan from Chandni Chowk, Delhi party unit chief Manoj Tiwari from north east Delhi, Pravesh Singh Verma from west Delhi, Ramesh Bidhuri from south Delhi and Meenkashi Lekhi from New Delhi parliamentary constituency.

Elections in the national capital are scheduled on May 12. The contest in the national capital has become interesting as the talks of an alliance between the Congress and the AAP failed. The AAP and the Congress has also announced candidates for all the seven seats in the national capital.