The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday kicked-off a three-tier election campaign ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls on February 8.
“The campaign comprises town hall meetings and roadshows by party chief Arvind Kejriwal, and jan sabhas by top leaders; campaigns by candidates; and door-to-door campaign by party workers who will take the ‘Kejriwal Ka Guarantee Card’ to 35 lakh households,” party Delhi in-charge Gopal Rai said.
Mr. Kejriwal will hold eight town hall meetings between January 23 and January 30; he will also cover about 60 constituencies through roadshows, a spokesperson said.
Jan sabhas
On Tuesday, senior AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, and Mr. Rai conducted separate jan sabhas in the city as party of the new campaign. Mr. Rai said that volunteers will take the guarantee cards to households from January 24 to February 2; the other two campaigns will go on till the elections.
Meanwhile, AAP Assembly elections in-charge Sanjay Singh said that former Delhi Minister Jitender Singh Tomar, who was declared as the party’s candidate from Tri Nagar on January 14, will not fight the elections and instead his wife, Preeti Tomar, will be given the ticket.
After AAP had declared its full list of candidates on January 14, the High Court on January 17 had set aside Mr. Tomar’s 2015 poll win for giving false declaration regarding his educational qualification in his nomination papers.
“After the court verdict, I told the party that my wife will fight the election and the party agreed,” Mr. Tomar said. Ms. Tomar filed her nomination on Monday.
Sitting AAP MLA from Delhi Cantt., Surender Singh, who was denied the party ticket, said he resigned from the party on Tuesday and added that he has joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). “I will fight the elections from Delhi Cantt. on the NCP ticket. I filed my nomination on Tuesday,” he said.
Mr. Rai said that AAP MLA from Seelampur, Mohammad Ishraq Khan, who was denied a party ticket, will not be fighting the election.
Mr. Khan had filed his nomination papers on Monday from the seat.
