Gambhir, Lekhi, Bidhuri and Hansraj file nomination papers

New Delhi: In the midst of all the hustle that comes on the last day of filing nominations, South Delhi candidate for Bharatiya Janata Party, Ramesh Bidhuri filed his papers for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Delhi on Tuesday with huge crowds of supporters clogging up streets around the Saket District Magistrate's office.

On the same day, BJP's New Delhi and East Delhi candidates Meenakshi Lekhi and cricketer Gautam Gambhir also filed their nomination papers from their respective constituencies. And with the party announcing Hansraj Hans as its North West Delhi candidate on Tuesday afternoon, he also filed his papers with just hours to spare before the nomination deadline expired.

The saffron party chose to field Bidhuri again this year after he defeated the closest rival in 2014, Col Devinder Sehrawat of AAP by more than one lakh votes. And Congress' Ramesh Kumar could not even get close to Bidhuri's count of 4.97 lakh.

This time around Bidhuri will go up against AAP's young gun Rahgav Chadha and Congress' Olympic medallist Vijender Singh. While Bidhuri does have the upper hand given that both his major opponents are first-timers; it remains to be seen how he will do against Congress' Singh, who does not need to work hard for voters to know him. Lekhi will be going up against AAP's Brajesh Goel and veteran Congress leader Ajay Maken in New Delhi; whereas Gambhir will have to prove his worth against Arvinder Singh Lovely (Congress) and Atishi (AAP).

All four candidates took out roadshows on their way to filing nomination papers and were joined by several senior party leaders such as Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari and Siddharthan. At Bidhuri's roadshow that was clogging up the Mehrauli-Badarpur Road in Saket, senior BJP leaders who were very happy with the turnout called it a "sea of saffron". Scores of people lined the road from Saket metro station going towards the DM's office.

Traffic came to a standstill for almost two to three hours. At the roadshow, Bidhuri thanked party workers for their support and said, "I hope for your love and affection in the coming days." Gambhir was joined by Tiwari who said he was confident that his popularity will make him victorious in East Delhi.