With the Aam Aadmi Party releasing its full list of 70 candidates for the Delhi Assembly elections, the party’s campaign has got a head start over the Congress and the BJP which are yet to release their lists.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will fight the election from the New Delhi Assembly seat and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia from Patparganj, same as 2015 elections. In the last Assembly elections, AAP had registered a landslide victory by winning 67 of 70 seats.
“The tickets were allotted after surveys by the party in all constituencies,” AAP leader and Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam said. Asked about protests by MLAs who have not got tickets, he told The Hindu , “This happens in all parties. AAP has calculated all these things while taking the decision. We will win with more majority this time.”
Mr. Gautam said that in his constituency, apart from the main issues in the manifesto, he will focus on decongesting footpaths and take measures to prevent drug addiction among youth.
AAP’s Timarpur MLA Pankaj Pushkar, who has been dropped, said he will continue to be with the party and campaign for it in the elections. “The party did not communicate to me earlier that I won't get a ticket. I have been consistent and honest and there was no negative feedback against me.”
Three of the seven AAP candidates who contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Delhi — Atishi, Dilip Pandey and Raghav Chadha — have been included in the list. Mr. Pandey has replaced Mr. Pushkar in Timarpur, Ms. Atishi replaced Avtar Singh in Kalkaji, and Mr. Chadha has been fielded in place of Vijendra Garg in Rajinder Nagar.
Delhi Assembly Committee on Peace and Harmony chairman Raghav Chadha. File Photo.
New faces
Among the leaders who joined AAP in the past one week, senior Congress leader Mahabal Mishra’s son Vinay Kumar Singh will fight from Dwarka, replacing sitting MLA Adarsh Shastri, five-time MLA Shoaib Iqbal will replace Asim Ahmad Khan in Matia Mahal and two-time MLA Ram Singh Netaji will replace Narayan Dutt Sharma in Badarpur.
Other MLAs who did not get a ticket are party’s chief whip in the Assembly Jagdeep Singh (Hari Nagar), Surender Singh (Delhi Cantt.), Haji Ishraq Khan (Seelampur), Ram Chander (Bawana), Sukhbir Singh Dalal (Mundka), Hazari Lal Chauhan (Patel Nagar). Also, Raju Dhingan (Trilokpuri), Manoj Kumar (Kondli), Choudhary Fateh Singh (Gokulpur) have been dropped.
“Thank you @ArvindKejriwal and AAP for expressing faith in me and giving me the opportunity to contest from Kalkaji. Am committed to putting AAP’s best foot forward and taking our govt’s stellar work to the people of Kalkaji,” Atishi said in a tweet.
Many AAP candidates also released videos on social media asking for votes. “For the first time election will be fought on work done, votes will be cast on work done... I have full confidence that we will once again elect Kejriwal government, because for Delhi Kejriwal is needed,” Mr. Chadha said in a video message.
Multiple programmes have been schedules for Wednesday and AAP is likely to bring out its manifesto later this week.
