The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday cancelled the tickets of 14 candidates it had earlier named for the municipal elections scheduled for April 23.
The names of candidates from Adarsh Nagar, Laxmi Park, Delhi Gate, Haiderpur, Jama Masjid, Karampura, Vishnu Garden, Khayala, Karawal Nagar-E, Nand Nagri, Sriniwaspuri, Govindpuri, Jaitpur and Kishanganj were among those cancelled. However, the party has not offered any reason behind the move.
New names announced
“The party’s political affairs committee (PAC) reviewed their candidature and deemed them unfit to be pitched. We have decided not to disclose the reason,” said AAP spokesperson Dilip Pandey.
Mr. Pandey said it was an “internal party matter”.
Now, Meena Verma is being pitched from Adarsh Nagar, Hameeda Begum is being fielded from Jama Masjid while Pappu Chhilwal has been named as candidate from Lakshmi Park. Sukhpal from Vishnu Garden, Sunita Devi from Khyala, and Devender Tanwar are also among the new candidates.
Supporters cry foul
The party has announced all candidates for the 272 municipal seats.
The ousted candidates, meanwhile, reached the party’s Rouse Avenue office after the new list was announced. Many candidates and their supporters said they were not given any reason for their candidature being cancelled.
“We had printed handouts of the candidate’s profiles. We came here to discuss the reasons for the change, but weren’t given any explanation. We will discuss our issues with the party,” said a supporter of one of the removed candidates who had come to the party office.
Sources in the party also said that volunteers in many constituencies were unhappy with the candidates chosen. Many complained of favouritism and alleged that honest and hard-working volunteers were sidelined.
While applications were invited from interested candidates, the party had set up screening committees at the district and State-level to scrutinise and finalise names. These were then approved by the PAC — the highest decision-making body of the AAP.
