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Tuesday, Nov 11, 2008
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Congress releases final list for Delhi

Staff Reporter

– PHOTO: R. V. MOORTHY (See also page 4)

ALL SET FOR BATTLE OF BALLOT: Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit flashes the victory sign after filing her nomination papers for the Delhi Assembly elections in the Capital on Monday.

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Monday released its final list of 22 candidates for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections, fielding Delhi Health Minister Yoganand Shastri from Mehrauli and former Delhi Police officer Amod Kanth from neighbouring Sangam Vihar.

The party has stuck to its initial decision to field former Municipal Councillor Jitender Kochchar opposite Bharatiya Janata Party’s Chief Ministerial candidate Vijay Kumar Malhotra from Greater Kailash.

It has also given a ticket to senior party leader Buta Singh’s son Arvinder Singh Lovely for the Deoli reserved seat. As for the contentious Jangpura seat, the party has decided to go with the sitting MLA Tarvinder Singh Marwah. Minto Road MLA Tajdar Babar would have to sit out of the elections like six of her other party colleagues.

In all, the Congress has fielded 42 sitting MLAs across Delhi, including two – Dayanand Chandil and Ramvir Singh Bidhuri -- who had joined it from other parties. It has also fielded eight women candidates.

From Delhi Sadar, the Congress has fielded sitting MLA Rajesh Jain while another aspirant, Shadi Ram, has been left out. On the other hand, Rajouri Garden MLA Ramesh Lamba has been accommodated to contest from Hari Nagar. Likewise, three-time Ghonda MLA and Delhi Jal Board vice-chairman Bheesham Sharma has been given yet another chance to defend his seat. In Burari, where the BJP also took a long time deciding its candidate, the Congress has chosen Deepak Tyagi as its nominee. He has been preferred over Jahangirpuri Bhalaswa MLA Jile Singh Chauhan. Similarly Babarpur MLA Vinay Sharma has not been given the ticket; it has gone instead to Anil Vashisht.

Party chief whip Ramakant Goswami has got the final nod to contest the election from Rajendra Nagar. And popular leader Hari Shankar Gupta, whose candidature was backed by Union Minister of State Ajay Maken, has got the ticket for Wazirpur.

The other candidates announced by the party are Jaswant Rana from Narela, former MLA P. C. Kaushik from Mundka, Shabnam Riyaz from Kirari, Bijender Jindal from Rohini, Ram Kailash Gupta from Shalimar Bagh, DPCC vice-president Mahmood Zia from Matia Mahal, Anita Babar from Tilak Nagar, former MLA Kanwal Singh Yadav from Najafgarh, former Councillor Neeraj Basoya from Kasturba Nagar and Diwan Singh Niyol from Karawal Nagar.

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