Former Ministers Manish Sisodia and Rakhi Birla, on Saturday, figured in the second list of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as it announced 13 more candidates for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections. While the party chief, Arvind Kejriwal’s name was still not mentioned in the list, senior party leader Gopal Rai and Trilokpuri MlA Raju Dhingan were renominated for the polls.
Sisodia will contest from Patparganj and Birla has been fielded from Mangolpuri, seats represented by the two former Ministers in their earlier stint as legislators. AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal’s name is to be announced at the end after all candidates as the party plans to propose his name as its chief ministerial candidate.
The party has renominated Madan lal, Dinesh Mohania and Prakash Jarwal, former legislators from Kasturba Nagar, Sangam Vihar and Deoli areas respectively. Raju Dhingan, with whom the party was not happy over his ineffective handling of the riots, has also been given ticket from Trilokpuri seat. The party dropped Veena Anand, who represented Patel Nagar seat, and has nominated Hazari lal Chauhan in her place. AAP has also given ticket to Gopal Rai, senior party leader, from Babarpur. The party had decided to change some of its candidates that came third in last Assembly election, but Rai, who came third, has been given the ticket.
It has also changed candidates in six constituencies, giving chance to new faces. From Ballimara, it has fielded Imran Hussain, while from Matia Mahal it has nominated Asim Ahmed Khan as the party candidate. Ram Niwas Goel and Raghuvendra Shaukeen are party candidates from Shahdra and Nagloi Jat respectively. The party had come third and (fourth in case of Ballimaran) in these constituencies in last Assembly elections and has decided to field new faces. It has also changed its candidate from Rithala and has given ticket to Mahindra Goel.
With this list, the total number of candidates declared by the party has gone up to 35 in the 70-member Delhi legislative Assembly. In the first list of 22 candidates, announced on November 13, the party announced ticket to 12 of its former legislators, which included four former Ministers of the 49-day AAP Government.
In its first list the AAP had listed the names of Somnath Bharti (Malviya Nagar), Saurabh Bhardwaj (Greater Kailash) Satyendra Jain (Shakur Basti) and Girish Soni (Madipur) who are already legislators in the national Capital. Besides, candidates like Manoj Kumar (Kondli), Jarnail Singh (Tilak Nagar), Bandana Kumari (Shalimar Bagh), and Cammando Surender (Delhi Cantonment) would also be contesting in the ensuing polls.
